Seasonal workers fill labour demand

• Moore’s Farm Fresh subcontracted seasonal workers to help with the pumpkin harvest.

By Daisy Baker,
June 01, 2022

When it comes time to harvest crops, many local farmers have long relied on backpackers to make up their workforce.

Throughout Covid this has not been possible and due to the casual and unpredictable nature of the work, they are also struggling to attract local workers.

Moore’s Farm Fresh have been subcontracting seasonal workers from Hillwood Berries to address the labour shortage.

The workers are employed in Tasmania as part of the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility Scheme (PALM).

Hillwood Berries Labour hire coordinator Tanya Pearce said in recent years they’ve been unable to send seasonal workers home once the berry harvest had finished due to travel restrictions and instead, they had contracted them to farms on the mainland.

This season however Hillwood Berries has decided to keep workers in the state to help other producers struggling with labour shortages.

“The fruit or the vegetables don’t stop. You’ve got to get them in and get them in when it’s dry,” she said.

“We’re in an industry where we hate to see the fruit and what you’ve spent your time producing, go to waste. 

“We want to help these people because we know all too well that if you don’t have workers, everything you’ve worked for is ruined, so you help each other out where you can.

“It’s more to help out these people who we know are going to struggle to get people for consistent labour.”

Ms Pearce said their workers have been in high demand, purely through word of mouth between farmers.

Groups of up to 20 workers have been bussed around a range of farms across the North, harvesting cherries, grapes, broccoli, potatoes and pumpkins.

Ms Pearce said working at different farms enables their employees to see more of the state, while also providing experience working with a range of fruit and vegetables.

Over the winter months, Hillwood Berries’ workers will be contracting to a number of vineyards in the North-East, including Holm Oak and Delamere.

Ms Pearce said with harvesting based around weather, one of the key challenges for farmers in attracting local workers is the unpredictable nature of the work.

She said farmers are in a difficult situation, struggling to find a reliable workforce who can come when the harvest needs to be done, bearing in mind many farmers can’t afford to pay workers for missed days due to bad weather.

“Whereas for us, for example, if they weren’t doing pumpkins because it was raining, they could come back here and pick berries because we work in tunnels so it doesn’t matter if it’s raining,” she said.

Ms Pearce said they are coming to the end of their strawberry picking season and they have a small amount of raspberries that will continue on into June.

Over winter, there will be more work planting, removing last year’s strawberry plants and preparing for next season.

While seasonal workers are currently helping pick up the slack in the short term, this is a long-term issue and the pressure on farmers will continue.

Tasmania’s peak harvesting period is from December to March each year and usually requires about 9,000 seasonal workers.

Minister for Primary Industries and Water Jo Palmer said the Tasmanian Government is supporting the state’s businesses to ensure essential work continues in agricultural harvesting and production roles.

The Government’s Tassie Harvest Jobs – Take Your Pick local worker campaign has been established as part of the Agricultural Workforce Resilience Package to support the industry to manage workforce impacts during Covid-19.

“More locals have responded and taken up harvest jobs in the sector. Working holidaymakers are one target group of the campaign,” she said.

“The campaign continues to be rolled out over Autumn and Winter with harvest jobs still available. 

“The Federal Government supports seasonal labour through the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility scheme and Working Holiday Maker program approved employers can access the PALM program for the 2022-23 season.”

Minister Palmer said the demand for PALM workers and Working Holiday Makers is likely to increase across Tasmania's agricultural sector in the coming years due to the growth of production in the sector and low unemployment rates.

The number of WHM visa applications granted in the second half of last year show an upward trend with 14,129 granted in December alone, however this is still significantly lower than the pre-pandemic rates.

Local farmers remain hopeful that there will be more working holiday makers in the region in time for peak harvest next year.