Although Australia's Seasonal Worker Program has been reinstated, for many farms impacted by last summer's fires, recovery has slowed due to a shortage of labour caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Margaret Tadrosse and her husband Simon are slowly rebuilding their pick-your-own fruit business at Bilpin in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney.Kilometres of nylon hail netting used to protect ripe fruit from bats and birds still hang in tatters across the 26-hectare farm.
But $70,000 worth of new netting, bought with $900,000 state and federal farm recovery grants, sits in bags on the driveway.“It's been sitting here for about eight weeks but unfortunately we can't get any contractors to come and put it up. It’s specialist work and we cannot do it ourselves,” Ms Tadrosse said.
The couple recently took a delivery of 5,000 new fruit trees but without labourers were forced to replant the orchard themselves. “It’s just heartbreaking because you put so much time and effort into producing, and it's your livelihood. You look at the damage and think ‘how am I going to come back from this?’”An Ernst & Young report released last week predicts Australia will experience a shortage of up to 26,000 workers needed to pick and pack fruit and vegetables over the next six months due to the impacts of COVID-19. Giles in Victoria’s East Gippsland lost a wildflower plantation during last summer's fires.
“That gives me the strength to know that Kevin and I can work through this and come out the other end once again, even more resilient than we were before.”Emma Germano is also farming in Gippsland, growing cauliflower, broccoli and potatoes. Her 100-hectare property at Mirdoo North also fattens 1,200 lambs each year.“The workforce shortage across the agriculture sector is affecting many different commodities,” she said.
Farm-grown produce is also sold in a retail store called I Love Farms and demand for locally grown vegetables has grown during the pandemic, she said.
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