Contractors to look after existing customers first

And the industry needs to move on from assumptions of a linear north-south progression according to the executive officer of Australia’s peak contract harvester body with a lot of the crop coming in simultaneously.

Trevor Verlin, of Australian Custom Harvesters, said the influx of new crops meant harvest patterns had altered.

“Whereas once you could have a steady run from Queensland down through NSW and finish in Victoria now there are more areas working simultaneously, you’ve got more canola grown in northern NSW, you’ve got wheat being planted a lot earlier in Victoria’s Western District,” he said.

He said the issue would be more pronounced this year because of the damp, cool spring, which has meant harvest running up to a month behind last year’s in calendar terms, but added it was an ongoing trend.

In terms of the availability of contractors to meet demand, he said farmers with long-term arrangements in place would be in pole position.

“Our members generally have long term deals with customers, they offer a premium service and availability is a big part of that.”

However, he said farmers who traditionally harvested their own crop but were looking for extra help to cope with large volumes this year may have problems.

“The days where you could get a contractor just by putting an ad in the paper are probably coming to an end, good contractors are hard to find.”

He said overall there were less contract harvesters around.

“There’s a range of reasons, partly because of what we said with crop maturity becoming less predictable.

“Farmer / contractors have to prioritize their own crops and that means they are less likely to take their harvesters out of their own district.”

“The cost of machinery, the increased skill level with concepts like data collection required to operate the equipment, insurance costs and road regulations make it less viable for many people to go contracting.

“Along with that, the harvesters themselves have increased capacity so farmers with their own don’t have to get contractors in like they used to.”

“Instead the focus is on farmers who consciously make the decision not to invest in machinery and use contractors each year, in which case they probably have a long-term relationship with a particular business.”

“Even if the contractor has not finished up earlier work when crop is ready, he will look to try a replacement in order to retain the client into the future, but that is different if you are just talking about opportunistic work.”

“The paradigm has changed.”

Mr Verlin said this year, many contractors would have just two major moves, perhaps from Queensland into central NSW or the Riverina or from northern NSW into Victoria.