GrainGrowers tackling regional childcare shortage

Workforce issues compounded by a lack of childcare has consistently ranked in the top three issues for GrainGrowers' members, so the industry group has created a coalition of regional voices to solve the shortage.

Although tackling childcare shortage is outside GrainGrowers' usual mandate, major projects general manager Kaitlin Leonard said farmers were in the business of finding solutions to unique problems.

"The funny thing is, farmers are masters of innovation when they need to be and this has reached a critical tipping point, so we need some practical solutions," Ms Leonard said.

"There is a pool of talented labour the regions just can't access at the moment."

"You have these engaged, educated, experienced people who can't get back to work because they don't have childcare."

GrainGrowers formed a roundtable, bringing together a cross-section of government, industry and primary producers to discuss possible solutions.

In the brief initial session several out-side-the-box yet practical ideas were suggested; attaching childcare infrastructure to local primary schools and extending the workforce grants centres can access from one year to three-to-five years.

Giving community childcare centres charity status, so they can receive tax-deductible donations, was also flagged.

"You can send a tax-deductible gift to a private school, but you can't do it for your local childcare centre," Ms Leonard said.

In October, GrainGrowers will bring the roundtable together in Canberra to develop a Rural and Remote Blueprint for Childcare.

"We want to come to the government with solutions... what works in a metro environment isn't going to work in a rural region," Ms Leonard said.

"Even little things like additional flexibility are required for a remote context. When there's peak times on farm like harvest, without flexible care, kids end up back of ute or a makeshift playpen in the paddock."

A recent report by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission found in major cities, there was an average of almost 400 childcare places per 1000 children.

But the number of places steadily declines in inner regional areas (332), outer regional areas (295), remote (212) and very remote areas (166).