A potential shortfall in seasonal workers due to travel restrictions as a result of the coronavirus pandemic has cherry growers in the Young district concerned.
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Young cherry grower Scott Coupland explained that there's uncertainty surrounding worker availability ahead of the upcoming season.
"The talk at the moment is who is going to be available to work? Ready and willing and able to work? If we get a blow out like what's happened in Victoria, what implications will that have for the local industry? There's still a very positive outlook, a lot of growers are just waiting to see what happens," Mr Coupland said.
According to the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences, typically one-third of all peak seasonal jobs on horticultural farms are filled by overseas workers. However, in the wake of COVID-19 and bans on overseas travel, the industry is short of an estimated 40,000 harvest workers.
The Australian government has partnered with Harvest Trail Service Providers to offer farmers and horticultural employers a free service that connects them with quality workers to assist in agriculture and horticulture work.
Mr Coupland agreed that backpackers play a key role when it comes to employment during Young's annual cherry harvest, however, he believes there'll be more opportunity to find workers locally in 2020.
"We do [rely on backpackers]. However, there's more Australians this year, who have lost jobs, out on the road looking for work. We don't really know yet," he said.
"We're [Young cherry growers] going to get together soon and discuss some things. As a district we may have to work together a bit more this year, coordinate with each other. The last thing we want is a worker coming to our region who has done the wrong thing. So we're going to get together soon and work out what we can and can't do. There's a bit of uncertainty at the moment, but hopefully we can get some plans in place before the season starts."
Despite still a few months out from seeing cherry tree blossoms, Mr Coupland said there's signs there'll be a good fruit crop, meaning demand for work.
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