Thursday, 3 December, 2020
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Harvest call-out By Jess Baker Despite generous cash incentives and increasing unemployment, Granite Belt growers are still desperate for help this picking season - and for locals, joining the ‘Harvest Army’ could provide an income as well as an adventure. A recent study conducted by Ernst and Young warns a shortage of workers between now and mid next year will range from 36 to 59 percent, peaking in March 2021 at 20,000 to 26,000 unfilled roles.
Growcom’s Manager of Policy and Advocacy Richard Shannon said labour shortages due to Covid-19 international travel restrictions could have dire effects on the community. “(Queensland) growers are leaving hundreds of thousands of dollars in the fields to rot because they don’t have the labour they need to harvest,” he said. “Individual businesses are in jeopardy, which risks reducing wealth in regional centres and local economies.” Richard said there is also a strong chance the price of fruit and vegetables will increase if
Covid-19 travel restrictions are not soon eased. The worker deficit predicted by Ernst and Young assumes the reopening date of international borders will be in March 2021, but Richard said he believes that expectation is “too optimistic”. This means labour gaps could potentially be much longer and of higher magnitude. “We’re not expecting international travel to start again in any real way for over a year,” he said. Queensland farms rely heavily on back-
packers and workers from the Pacific Islands in ordinary times, but most returned home this year to wait out the pandemic. To address the labour shortfall, the Government is cooperating with participating Pacific countries and Timor-Leste to enable Pacific labour mobility initiatives to recommence in a Covid-safe way. Four charter flights of seasonal workers from the Pacific Islands have been approved to trial a new version of the Seasonal Worker Programme that allows workers to quarantine on-farm. Continued page 3
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