A microcosm of Australians’ reluctance to work on farms can be seen in Victoria’s Yarra valley.
CEO of a group of strawberry farms, Miffy Gilbert, struggled to source labour for the current harvest, while her teenage son works as a shelf-stacker at a supermarket.
Australians aren’t lazy, according to Gilbert, we’re simply spoilt for choice in a situation mirrored in most developed countries.
“Australians are harder to get, because we’re lucky to have a lot of options in front of us as to what we do for employment,” says Gilbert.
“When I grew up there was not a cafe or three on every corner like there is now.”
Gilbert is also CEO of AusBerry Farmers, a collaborative farming effort between seven families in the Yarra valley.
“If I said to him, ‘I’ve got seven farms, where do you want to work?’ There’s no way. It’s similar money to stacking the fruit and veg shelves in air-conditioned comfort versus sitting in a damp field for half a day.”
The Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences is predicting record production values for a second year in a row. The bureau is also reporting a shortage of about 22,000 workers across the country over the next quarter, with 16,000 of these in horticulture. Closed borders have exacerbated the shortage, as has the Australian-UK trade deal in June which removed the farm work requirement for about 10,000 British backpackers to extend their working holiday visas.
Gilbert started sourcing labour almost as soon as the previous harvest finished. She thought she might scrape through.
“But with border closures and the lockdown here in Victoria, we think we might be somewhere between 15% to 25% down.”
“It’s probably a major issue during the first couple of months up to Christmas, when the picking is fast and furious, and there are larger volumes.
“We’re lucky in strawberries that there are ways to manage the crop to reduce the peak so it might be 20% less, which you aren’t able to do with a lot of other crops.”
More than $60m worth of crop losses have been self-reported by farmers nationally since mid-2020, but the actual figure is likely to be far higher.
The federal government’s response has been two fold: try to attract Australians to take up farm work, in conjunction with overseas seasonal workers.
An agricultural visa has long been on the horizon. The prime minister, Scott Morrison, promised in June to have the visa in place by the end of the year, after the announcement of the UK trade deal, but details remain vague.
The other potential solution was an incentive of $6,000 for Australians to relocate for work. Former deputy prime minister, Michael McCormack, even noted the Instagram opportunities for young Australians in regional locations.
Earlier this year I picked grapes on a farm in Western Australia, after satisfying the requirements of the federal government’s relocation assistance to take up a job program, (since rebranded as AgMove).
My correspondence with Harvest Trail Information Services (HTIS) began in mid-December 2020. Despite an extensive paperwork trail, I am yet to receive a cent of the incentive, despite picking my last grape more than seven months ago.
Maddy Muller and Riley Harrington, originally from Bendigo, are in the same boat.
“It’s been nearly six months since we finished fruit picking, and we haven’t received payment as yet,” said Muller.
“I don’t think the process should be this tedious, especially as there was a real concern with the [labour] shortages.”
Gilbert is optimistic about what the visa will offer, but says diversifying is key when it comes to sourcing labour.
“We’re probably looking to spread our risk, and not have all our eggs in one basket. Our workforce are great people who all work really hard. We’d love to have some more backpackers, but there aren’t too many in this area.
“We’re very optimistic about the agriculture visa and we’re already looking at what that looks like for us.”
Not all are as buoyant. Deputy program director of migration at the Grattan Institute, Henry Sherrell, specialises in labour markets and immigration policy.
While acknowledging the agricultural visa’s obvious benefits, Sherrell fears it also has the potential to expose migrant workers to the sort of exploitation parts of the industry have been infamous for in the past.
“I think it has the potential to change things quite a bit, but I actually think for the worse,” he says.
“I think the biggest risk is that exploitation becomes more common. This is a really, really big change, and I think it’s got a little bit of attention, but probably not quite the attention it deserves.”
Australian Workers Union national secretary, Daniel Walton, is more blunt.
“This visa will undermine the current Pacific labour scheme and the seasonal worker program. Apparently the meagre protections offered to Pacific Islanders under these programs are too luxurious, so the government is keen to offer a visa under which abuse is even easier.
“It is crazy that Australia is apparently willing to trash our friendships in the Pacific so a handful of farmers can save a few bucks by treating workers like serfs.”
The National Farmer’s Federation general manager of workplace relations, Ben Rogers, said in response to Walton’s comments: “Yet again, Mr Walton slurs the farming community with his arrogant and misguided dog-whistle claims.”
“The ag visa will be very actively regulated and only available to farms which can satisfy the government that engage with their workers fairly and lawfully.”
Sherrell believes that while it has been a tough few years for labour-intensive farms, there is light at the end of the tunnel.
“This is a balancing act, and I worry that if we go too far down the path of trying to solve everything with more people and more visas, it will lead to more exploitation, and longer term, a less productive way of doing things.
“I do think when the borders go back to normal, there’s going to be some pent-up demand for backpackers to come to Australia.”
