Food costs will rise with pay rate— Feds

FARMING: Struggle to find workers even with higher wages

Kiwis will ultimately pay more for their food when the substantial increase in international workers’ pay kicks in from February, Federated Farmers warns. The Government has announced a new median wage of $29.66 per hour will be adopted into the immigration system on February 27, 2023. The majority of new migrant farm staff are now being employed on the Accredited Employer Work Visa, which has an hourly rate of pay requirement tied to the median wage, says Federated Farmers’ immigration spokesman Richard McIntyre.

“Farmers are faced with paying almost $30 an hour for international staff needed to perform the basic tasks on farm,” says Richard.

“All industries are struggling to find New Zealanders who are willing and able to do the job, but for farm employers in remote rural areas the challenge is even greater. Farmers need people in gumboots on the ground to put cups on cows and drive tractors so that they are able to focus on the more technical and management roles on farms.”

Farm employers and industry groups have been working hard to attract Kiwis to the sector, but unemployment remains low, and all rural and provincial employers are vying for the same limited pool of staff.

The sector has already seen large increases in average rates of pay, as shown by the 2022 Federated Farmers-Rabobank Farm Remuneration survey.

The survey showed that since the 2019/2020 survey, weighted average incomes have grown 15 per cent in the dairy sector, 14 per cent in the sheep and beef sector, and seven per cent in the arable sector.

“[Federated Farmers] has been working in partnership with the Ministry of Social Development to deliver the ‘ Get Kiwis on Farm’ programme. New workers get an industry standard employment contract, and the right gear to work safely and comfortably on farm,” says Richard.

“But it’s still not enough when there are thousands of agriculture work vacancies.

“Our concern is that never-ending wage increases will add additional costs — not just to farm employers, but also the downstream and upstream industries that service agriculture and businesses in the wider economy, driving up input costs and reinforcing a wageprice spiral that will drive inflation even higher. Ultimately, it will be the New Zealand public who pay the price on the supermarket shelf,” says Richard.

“There are additional concerns that as labour becomes unaffordable, farmers try to do all the work themselves, ultimately leading to fatigue, stress and on-farm accidents.” ■