Produce prices to spike after bid for thousands of pickers netted less than 500

Tuesday January 19, 2021

Southern Queensland fruit and vegetable growers say the uptake of government incentives to attract Australians to picking jobs has been “underwhelming”, as their peak harvest season approaches.

Celery grower Kane Busch had to dump a crop because it could not be picked in time to meet orders. (Photo: ABC: Peter Somerville)

Shoppers are being warned to expect higher produce prices at the checkout in the coming months after government programs failed to attract enough workers to address the industry’s ongoing farm labour shortages.

In mid-2020, the…

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