THE agricultural workforce crisis is expected to deteriorate further as the one-year anniversary of the federal government's Jobs and Skills Summit passes.
The much hyped summit, held across two days in Canberra in September 2022, brought together unions, employers, civil society and governments to address the shared economic challenges.
But little has changed on the farm labour landscape, according to Ausveg.
In a survey of members, the national vegetable body found record-low morale among Australian vegetable growers, with labour shortages, workforce policy and legislative changes, increased compliance and rising operational costs major factors forcing growers to contemplate their commercial viability.
The survey found:
- 72 per cent are currently experiencing workforce shortages;
- 45pc rate their future viability with current workforce shortages as "poor to very poor".
The Working Holiday Maker program, Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) Scheme and overseas student visas, which allow Australian farmers to fill critical labour shortages with overseas workers, have all undergone significant changes in recent months.
Ausveg chief executive officer, Michael Coote, said the survey results were not overly surprising given the significant challenges growers had faced.
"We're a year on from the Jobs and Skills Summit, and unfortunately the only changes the government have made in that time are making the problem worse, not better," Mr Coote said.
"Fire, drought, flood, rain, hail, labour shortages, volatile markets, biosecurity breaches, unprecedented cost increases to inputs, and many other issues can have detrimental impacts on farmers and rural communities.
"The toll is showing on vegetable growers, and if even close to 30pc of them move away from vegetable production, frequent fresh produce shortages will become the new norm, and Australian families will bear the brunt with higher prices for their produce."
In September 2022, the government began compiling the Employment White Paper to build on the summit themes and outcomes.
The White Paper is expected to released by the end of September this year.
Minister confident of progress
WHEN federal agriculture minister Murray Watt's office was asked about progress since the summit, a spokesperson provided some examples of work being undertaken in the ag workforce space, including:
- Introducing the tripartite Agricultural Workforce Working Group with farm employer groups and unions that meet regularly to work together to skill-up, attract and retain our agriculture workforce.
- Creating the Agribusiness Jobs and Skills Council - an industry-led and owned organisation that identifies skills and workforce needs, maps career pathways across education sectors and develops VET training products.
- Delivering a record number of PALM workers for Australian farmers.
The spokesperson also listed the delivery of 13,200 fee-free TAFE places available this year to train locals for agriculture work, saying there were more to come.
"We have committed to deliver a further 300,000 fee-free TAFE places over 2024-26 in areas of national priority, including agriculture," the spokesperson said.
National Farmers Federation CEO, Tony Mahar, said there'd been little movement since the summit.
"What we've seen since the Jobs and Skills Summit is a death by a thousand cuts to our workforce options," Mr Mahar said.
"Farmers and regional businesses are being squeezed out of the Pacific Scheme, skilled migration and working holiday maker programs.
"Farms and food processing facilities are still operating at reduced capacity and that's putting direct pressure on the price of food."
Nationals leader, David Littleproud, was critical of the NFF last year for aligning with the Australian Workers' Union within the agriculture taskforce, formed at the Jobs and Skills Summit.
Mr Littleproud said Labor had made things worse with changes to the PALM scheme.
"Labor has hindered agriculture by effectively taking away the tools it needs to grow our nations food and fibre," he said.
"Agriculture has gone backwards because it's harder for farmers to find the workers they need.
"As a result, families are struggling to pay for groceries but the increased bills are a Labor-made crisis."
Mr Littleproud said Australia's top peak food industry bodies warned agriculture requires an additional 172,000 workers to get food from paddock to port or plate, yet only around 16,000 have come in since Labor got into office.
"The PALM Scheme is unworkable for agriculture because it will require farmers to offer a minimum of 30 hours per week, even though agricultural work is seasonal and weather dependent," Mr Littleproud said.
Ausveg called the federal government to genuinely work with the vegetable industry on workforce policy reforms that uphold the highest standards of worker welfare while also meeting the needs of growers.
"The Australian vegetable sector is forecast to grow by at least an additional billion dollars in annual farm-gate value by 2030, but if we're hamstrung by workforce availability that potential to grow the Australian economy will be lost," Mr Coote said.
Ashley Walmsley
Ashley Walmsley is the editor of ACM's only national, fresh produce magazine, Good Fruit & Vegetables, while also covering horticulture stories for the agricultural papers and websites. He also writes the weekly, The Ringer, column in the Qld Country Life.
Ashley Walmsley is the editor of ACM's only national, fresh produce magazine, Good Fruit & Vegetables, while also covering horticulture stories for the agricultural papers and websites. He also writes the weekly, The Ringer, column in the Qld Country Life.
