Dairy worker shortage a worry
Farmers say they’re barrelling towards a worker shortage crisis on the verge of calving season with more than 1000 vacancies in the dairy sector.
The Government needed to provide certainty on visa extensions and to allow key workers stuck overseas back into New Zealand, said DairyNZ.
Chief executive Tim Mackle said if the worker shortage issue wasn’t addressed, it could put animal welfare in jeopardy.
DairyNZ was set to start a training programme to redeploy unemployed Kiwis to dairy farms, but that wouldn’t happen quickly enough for calving season which starts in July.
“We are really wanting to play our part and have more Kiwis find employment and have more Kiwis in dairy. We’d love it. But the challenge is it can’t happen with a flick of the switch.”
Mackle estimated there were about 5000 migrants working in the dairy sector and without other workers allowed in, the Government needed to provide certainty on visa extensions.
Amid the Covid-19 crisis, all work visas were extended until September but Mackle said that meant many would have to leave “right in the thick of it” before spring.
There were also another 1000 roles that needed filling now, due to the absent migrant workforce and the dairy industry doubling in size in the past decade.
Farmer David McFarlane, who recently lost his entire herd to M bovis, recently had 550 cows delivered to his Canterbury farm.
Because they’d come from the North Island, calving was due to start in July but McFarlane’s only full-time employee, Ryan, is stuck in the Philippines. He went to introduce his wife and newborn to family at the end of February but got caught out by the lockdown. McFarlane was desperate to get him back before calving because there wasn’t time to train anyone new.
Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor said the Government was “very aware” of the shortage of workers and were working with training providers on short courses to get Kiwis up to skill quickly.
A spokesperson for Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway said he was awaiting advice from officials on visa extensions and allowing workers back into the country.