It's a grey and rainy day on Tom Eastlake's cherry orchard in the New South Wales town of Young, but that’s exactly how he likes it.
Mr Eastlake, a first-generation cherry grower who is also the president of Cherry Growers Australia, says producers across the region are expecting an excellent season.“In terms of fruit quality and fruit yield, it's going to be a good year,” he says. With very few backpackers left in the region after leaving during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, cherry growers are short on workers for a season that begins around the start of November.
Commonwealth recruiting agency CozWine's national manager Ed Milne says it's a fun alternative in a year that's otherwise been pretty tough. Workers will be charged for the accommodation at a rate of $75 per day, but CozWine says it hopes to get the NSW Government on board to subsidise the cost.At the start of September, the Western Australian government announced a $40 per night accommodation payment for anyone who took up agricultural work more than 100 kilometres from their home.
"If you know somebody who might be on the coast who might be lounging around with a surfboard, tell them to come to the regions," Mr McCormack said in an address to the Regional Australia Institute.
Many people are still skeptical for the reasons that you know 🤨
I am 60 and thats exactly what I did during school holidays, most years untill leaving home to go off to wofk and study at the end of yr 12. Kids are a bit precious these days and besides you cannot pick fruit with your phone in your hand!
Can they send the Shore boys up there?
More than willing to work hard all day everyday until alive but these boundry restrictions are so harsh on everyone.
How about paying them properly and not molesting the girls.
Sheep graziers used to build modest shearers quarters on their properties to accommodate shearers for the temporary work they carried out year after year, why are fruit growers not doing similar to accommodate seasonal pickers.
SBS Cherry picking is awesome!! I did it as a teenager - do it with a mate, it’s great, ( shhh - the really big ripe ones are so tasty!) 🍒 🍒🍒🍒🍒
Child exploitation? What next? How about they pay a decent wage or would that eat into their profits because that's what its really all about. Every business has overheads. If they can't manage them without exploiting staff, then they're in the wrong business. ausecon auspol
You reap what you sow, or in this case you don't actually reap. Past years of treating workers so poorly is catching up. Too bad.