Budget light on detail for farmers
The Government has set aside $19 million to boost primary sector employment in Budget 2020, but that’s where the answers to farmers’ most pressing questions run out.
Finance Minister Grant Robertson yesterday revealed the Government will spend up to $50 billion fighting the coronavirus crash.
Of that, $15.9b was allocated in the Budget, much of it going towards infrastructure, jobs and training. For South Taranaki dairy farmer Trish Rankin, the $19m earmarked for getting 10,000 people into the primary sector was good news.
However, Robertson had failed to give any real detail on how that money, and other large chunks of the $15.9b would actually be used, she said.
‘‘There were a lot of grey areas where he said, ‘we’ll spend this much on this’ but there was no specificity.
‘‘It was so ambiguous, nobody’s going to know who’s getting what, or what they might be eligible for.’’
A plan to get more Kiwis into agriculture jobs had been at the top of Rankin’s pre-budget wishlist as New Zealand’s agriculture and horticulture industries have been grappling with a labour shortage for years.
Although she and her husband, Glen, employ just one worker to help with their sharemilking operation, they have relied on migrant workers on previous farms.
It’s a common situation among farmers – the dairy industry typically employs more than 5500 migrant workers, about 15 per cent of its workforce.
South Taranaki dairy farmer
But the coronavirus outbreak has thrown a spanner in the works, with the borders closed to potential workers. ‘‘If you can’t access migrant workers and you can’t attract Kiwi workers in, that’s going to put an enormous physical, mental and emotional strain on farmers.’’ Rankin said the pandemic had given the Government a ‘‘massive opportunity’’ to support New Zealanders into agriculture jobs, and she had hoped the Budget would provide a targeted plan.
‘‘It’s great to say there’s a plan now, but what is it?’’
The Budget had also failed to directly address the need for a national water storage plan, which Rankin said could put an end to the ‘‘reactionary decisionmaking’’ around drought events.
But with $20b yet to be allocated, some of that could go towards water storage projects.
‘‘It’s great to say there’s a plan now, but what is it?’’ Trish Rankin