AN orchard manager at one of the Goulburn Valley’s largest apple and pear producers has said he’s concerned about the looming potential of worker shortages come harvest time, with Working Holiday Maker visa arrivals halted.
Brent Reeve, orchard manager at Geoffrey Thompson Orchards, said he was “hoping and praying” for a solution prior to the surge in demand for pickers.
Geoffrey Thompson Orchards hires about 500 workers every harvest season, with 400 of those typically foreign nationals on the popular Working Holiday visas.
According to Mr Reeve, he expects to produce about 100,000 bins of apples and pears this season, with each bin weighing 350kg – roughly 10 percent of all of Australia’s pears and apples.
Mr Reeve said he would support some form of Seasonal Worker Program that could see workers flown in from Pacific Islands with strict COVID-19 precautions to work. He currently has 20 workers from Pacific Islands, a number expected to rise to 70.
Yet that number is still well short of the 400 needed for fruit thinning through November and December, and the 500 needed for picking in February.
While new backpackers aren’t arriving in the country, Mr Reeve said many here working in the hospitality industry may turn their hand to farm work because of COVID-19 lockdowns.
“There are a lot of good backpackers out there who want to work, including those looking to relocate from Melbourne,” he said.
