NSW Farmers Association, Media Release, 22 February 2022

The state’s peak agricultural body has criticised union calls to scrap the Ag Visa, saying it will only lead to further disruption in food supply chains.

The Australian Workers Union waded into the political chaos this week claiming the Ag Visa had failed to attract workers to farms, ignoring the impact of COVID on international travel.

NSW Farmers Vice President Xavier Martin said Australians needed to work together to rebuild the economy and workforce out of COVID.

“Our food does not grow, pick and process itself — we have had two years of workforce shortages impacting food supply in this country,” Mr Martin said.

“We need to work together to find ways to get more farm workers, not fewer, because any action that impacts agricultural labour supply will ultimately cost us all by limiting the food we can produce.”

Many farm jobs are seasonal – some for only a few weeks at a time – and until COVID brought an end to international travel many were filled by backpackers and short-term foreign workers. Mr Martin said NSW Farmers was actively advocating for more agricultural skills training for Australians, but a holistic approach was needed to ensure the sector could continue to grow and harvest our food.

“The Ag Visa is just one part of a broader strategy to resolve the workforce crisis facing the sector,” Mr Martin said.

“Attraction, training and retention of Australian workers is part of the solution, but so too is attraction of international workers because the reality is that there are seasonal jobs that Australians are just not attracted to do.

“I’m hopeful we’ll find proactive solutions to these challenges, and avoid politicisation of this important issue.”