The worker shortage forces Kimberley banana farmer Lachlan Dobson to rip up 50ha of banana crop and replace it with less labour intensive, and less profitable, cotton.
abc.net.au/news/kimberley-banana-farmers-adapt-to-survive-worker-shortage/101376244Hectares of tall leafy trees on Western Australia's largest banana plantation have been replaced with bright fields of cotton, with a critical staff shortage making the fibre more economically viable than the fruit.
"We sat down and we did sort of an analysis to try and work out what non-labor-intensive crop we could grow that would give us the best returns and cotton won that one fairly comfortably. "We can manage the cotton by jumping on a motorbike and driving around every morning for about 20 minutes just to make sure the irrigation system has worked and everything is proceeding and that's basically all the work you do," he said.
Long term, Mr Dobson hoped the eventual return of labour to the property would allow for a rapid return to bananas."We'll just sit back and wait and see what the labour market looks like."While crop changes are possible for some, mango growers in Australia's north are turning to technology to help manage staffing deficits.
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