While we grapple with a global pandemic, increasing inflation, geo-political events and raising interest rates, the single biggest challenge for our industry remains the shortage of labour.

The horticulture and produce sector has experienced labour challenges in the past but never as acutely as it does now. This is due to a number of factors, made worse by the impact of COVID-19 and the long period with our borders closed. We are also near the peak of an economic cycle, which is when unemployment is low and wage costs are high.

Beyond the day-to-day impact, businesses are feeling the financial pain of staff shortages. It’s having an effect on our sector’s ability to get fresh produce to market, increasing the price for consumers and putting a strain on our country’s food security.

Most businesses are turning to existing employees to work additional hours and a number of our growers have been forced to reduce their operational capacity and cut back production. At the extreme end, growers are considering leaving the industry altogether.

If things don’t improve, we’ll have to deal with long-term economic and social consequences.

It’s important everyone across the industry work together and continue to advocate for change in order to address this pressing challenge, not only to solve the immediate issue but to also future proof our access to labour.

There’s no silver-bullet. Addressing labour shortages requires a number of strategies. We need better pathways for training, we need to increase participation across all parts of society and we need immigration settings that better support horticulture.

There hasn’t been enough planning to identify the current and future labour requirements or enough education to grow our skills base. It’s important for young people to be guided towards training and qualifications in areas that are needed most, such as horticulture. Quite simply, education, training, along with immigration settings need to address the needs of the labour market.

It’s pleasing to see some reform in the tertiary education and training system, which is aimed at making opportunities more accessible for people not looking to attend universities or other educational institutions. We now need education providers and employment services to be more integrated to successfully transition people into the horticulture industry.

Migrant workers and working holiday makers are a highly valuable part of our labour mix. Providing access to the global labour market is one of the key policy levers available to address shortages and complement our existing workforce. Our industry needs an increase in the immigration intake, especially RSE workers, to replace the skills lost during the COVID-19 pandemic and bolster the number of employees in the future. There also needs to be a reduction in red-tape and an improvement in processing times.

There needs to be more support to increase participation for those who haven’t traditionally worked in our industry. This includes the long-term unemployed, young and mature workers, as well as more women.

The industry requires the support of government agencies to achieve the outcomes we need. We can all play our part in advocating for change by continuing to push our case through industry bodies or directly with politicians and government officials.

Peter Hendry
CEO