Top pick for fruit season

Benefits of Pacific Islander program flow to Tassie growers

TASMANIA’S fruit growers say Pacific Islander workers are becoming increasingly important to the industry, filling the gap left in orchards and berry fields by backpackers deterred by tax changes.

Cherries, strawberries and raspberries are ready to be picked and growers are looking to a good season.

Tasmania is expected to have its fruit fly free status reaffirmed early in the new year, the cherry crop is lighter but of better quality and Pacific Islander workers are spreading into the South to help boost picker numbers.

Fruit Growers Tasmania CEO Stuart Burgess said there was anecdotal evidence that some growers had to leave cherries unharvested last year due to a lack of workers.

But Mr Burgess said this year’s crop was lighter but with bigger and better fruit and he expected the major growers to be able to fill picking positions.

A national program to encourage welfare recipients to work on farms came under fire from the agricultural industry this week.

The $27.5 million Seasonal Work Incentives Trial had a target to get 7600 unemployed placed on Australian farms.

Only 333 positions have been filled with only six months of the trial to run. Half of all the positions filled were on Tasmanian farms.

Geeveston orchardist John Evans was the first in Australia to take on a worker under the scheme.

Mr Burgess agreed the pro- gram had failed to make an impact. “I think it has worked a little better in Tasmania than the mainland because the farms and orchards are more accessible, closer to the population centres,” Mr Burgess said.

“But you couldn’t call those numbers a huge success. On the other hand the Pacific Island Worker Program has seen much better results and workers are starting to flow into the South of Tasmania, not just the North.

“The islanders are great workers and have helped fill the backpacker gap. Now we need to talk to the Federal Government about improving the visa system to look at longer agricultural visas.”

It is understood Pacific Islanders stay up to six times longer at a farm than backpackers and are, on average, 20 per cent more productive.

More than 6000 islanders came to Australia for seasonal work in 2016-17.

In November, the Federal Government announced changes to existing backpacker and seasonal worker visas, in a bid to quell rising tensions in the National Party over the lack of progress on a dedicated agriculture visa.

The changes enabled foreign workers to stay in regional jobs for longer than six months and for Pacific Islanders who come to Australia for farm work to stay three months longer.

Ausveg said the changes did not address the seasonal nature of harvest work and has renewed calls for the creation of a more specialised visa for dedicated agriculture workers.