Noosa News
Nomads, retirees, and jobless city people make an effort to bolster harvest picker workforce
Cathy Downie has been picking grapes in Mildura, in Victoria’s Sunraysia region, for just over a week, but has learnt quickly what makes a good bunch.
Key points:
- There’s a shortage of around 26,000 workers in horticulture left by international travellers who can’t get into the country
- A lack of harvest workers will result in a forecast drop in fruit production by 17 per cent and vegetable production by around 2 per cent
- Federal and Victorian governments offer cash grants to entice people to work on farms but few have signed up
“You do what they say is ‘trimming’. So you take off the little ones, the dead ones, the ones that are bruised, tidy up your bunch, and then just put it in the bucket and start the process again,” she said.
The…
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