Border exception grants bring relief
Further relaxing of border restrictions will bring some relief to farmers but the industry could still be short hundreds of agricultural contractors as the harvest season gears up.
Yesterday, the Government announced it would grant timelimited border exceptions for up to 210 agricultural and horticultural machinery operators, 30 veterinarians and 570 deep sea fishing crew.
Immigration Minister Kris Faafoi said tight border restrictions remained the backbone of the Government’s border strategy to protect New Zealand against coronavirus. However, it also understood the challenges and workforce gaps those restrictions created.
‘‘Agricultural and horticultural mobile plant operators are employed across regional New Zealand to operate highly-specialised machinery,’’ he said.
‘‘Their skills are required urgently to avoid the loss of crop and animal feed that will soon be ready for harvest.’’
Nationally, it’s believed about 700 skilled machinery operators are needed each season. Last month it was estimated rural contractors still needed to find nearly 400.
Federated Farmers immigration and employment spokesman Chris Lewis said although farmers and contractors had hoped a higher number of exceptions would be granted, the announcement was a step in the right direction.
However, farmers were still concerned that the border controls meant New Zealand had a shortfall of up to 150 experienced shearers.
‘‘By a conservative estimate, that workforce gap equals 180,000 sheep a week unshorn.’’
Lewis said the primary sector had heard the Government ‘‘loud and clear’’ on its desire to see more New Zealanders trained for specialised roles.
As well as the shortage of agricultural machinery operators, Faafoi said there were not enough Kiwis to meet the current need for livestock veterinarians.
‘‘Training to be a vet takes years so these vacancies cannot be filled quickly. Vets provide significant benefits to our economy and communities, by ensuring biosecurity and food safety requirements and supporting animal welfare,’’ he said. ‘‘Foreign deep sea fishing crew also contribute significantly to New Zealand’s economy. The Government accepts that there are few additional Kiwis with the experience to safely work on these ships in the short term.’’