Crop losses in Australia caused by closed borders and a lack of migrant workers have amounted to more than $39million worth of crops being lost in just the last five weeks, farmers say.
New figures from the National Crop Loss Register, which allows farmers to logon and report their crop losses, show that paddocks full of produce are going to waste because there are not enough workers to harvest them.
Since international borders were closed in March 2020 to halt the spread of coronavirus, the seasonal workforce which farmers rely on to plant, pick and pack their crops has dried up – leaving 26,000 jobs vacant.
Australian farmers have reported almost $40million in wasted crops in the last five weeks alone because of labour shortages (file image)
Pacific Islander workers (pictured) were allowed to travel to Australia despite border closures, though the number who have flown into the country is only about 1,000
Pictured: East Timorese people board an airplane as they leave to go work in Australia in December 2020
The register was launched in mid-December by Grocom – the peak horticulture agency in Queenslansd – on behalf of the National Farmers Federation.
Berries amounted to 55 per cent of the reported losses in the last five weeks worth $21.4million, while 34.5 per cent or $13.4million worth were vegetables such as spinach, pumpkins, and potatoes, figures seen by The Australian show.
Queensland recorded the highest amount of crop losses at $30.8million while there were $5.4million in New South Wales followed by the other states making up the remainder of the $38.9million.
‘Our belief is that reports to the register so far are just the tip of the iceberg,’ Growcom manager of policy and advocacy said.
In an effort to provide some relief for farmers scrambling to fill 26,000 farm jobs usually filled by foreign workers, such as backpackers, the government introduced two measures.
The first – a $6,000 expenses reimbursement for Australians to relocate for regional agriculture work – was prompted after those on JobKeeper were failing to take up farm work in favour of remaining on the benefit scheme.
But very few took up the lucrative scheme, even though workers only needed to stay on the farms for just weeks.
In early December, a month after the scheme launched, only a meagre 148 people signed up to the program.
Backpackers form a large part of Australia’s seasonal farm workforce (pictured) but international border closures have affected their numbers
Deputy Nationals Leader David Littleproud has expressed concerns that the JobKeeper payments of $1,000 a fortnight are stopping some from taking up the jobs.
‘There’s a real aversion from the Australian workforce to go and pick fruit,’ he told the ABC.
‘Even when our social security payment for the dole was $550 a fortnight, we couldn’t get people off the couch to go and pick fruit.
‘We have, for some time, relied on an overseas workforce, and that means that we are going to have to work through measures to try and support that.’
Announced in March 2020, the first phase of JobKeeper supported more than 3.6 million workers and around one million businesses.
Around one million people are still using the scheme.
Tasmania’s berry industry alone is worth $80million a year with farms in the states employing thousands of workers (stock image)
Less then 1,500 Pacific island workers have flown to Australia under the eased restrictions (pictured workers from East Timor leaving the nation on December 2 to come Down Under)
In lieu of employing local workers, the government’s second plan was to fast-tracking the Pacific Labour Scheme.
Workers from Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu – where COVID-19 cases number are non-existent – are allowed to travel to Australia to work on farms under the program.
However, less then 1,500 Pacific island workers have flown to Australia under the eased restrictions.
Mr Shannon has urgently called for expanded capacity to allow Pacific island and East-Timorese workers to get out to work on farms – warning that food-growing industry will continue to deteriorate without a labour force.
‘We know there are many workers keen to get started, but … there’s a big bottleneck getting through state and territory-based quarantine.’
He has called for a new international visa category designed specifically to meet seasonal harvest needs, as well as calling for the government to take a closer look at interstate border closures, saying they were ‘city-centric’ decisions.
Pictured: Pacific Island workers pick berries in Queensland, Australia in November
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