Half-price hotel quarantine for agricultural workers as crop losses tip $52m in five months

The New South Wales government will subsidise half the hotel quarantine cost of agricultural workers in a bid to remedy the state’s labour shortage as the nation’s crop losses exceed $52 million since December.

Australian farmers, mainly from the horticulture sector, have reported the heartbreaking experience of leaving produce to rot with a lack of backpackers in the country to support the seasonal workforce.

“The agricultural sector…