Australian farmers need Australian work visa holders

Australia, 29th April: Australian farmers are in dire need of increased number of temporary Australian work permit holders to bail them out of the present situation.

The NFF (National Farmers Federation) has come out in favor of farmers needing help in seasonal agriculture work by allowing more candidates possessing Australian work visas.

Australia will need anything between 10,000 and 20,000 additional workers either on agriculture farms or in agriculture supply chain every year for the next five years primarily due to good rains and improving economy of the country, the NFF stated.

Australia is facing severe labor shortage and this has made it impossible for the Australian farm sector to capitalize its recovery from several years of drought and recent global economic crisis, said president of NFF, David Crombie.

According to the figures released by NFF in a paper on population policy, nearly 100,000 jobs in Australia will be required to be filled as farms in Australia return back to full production.

Aussie farmers are struggling to lure agriculture workers back to this sector. Farmers can grow food in Australia but they need workers to do such agriculture jobs in Australia including picking fruits, shearing the sheep and harvesting vegetables, stated Crombie. In such a situation, agriculture produce will ultimately rot resulting in large scale wastage.

Hence, there is an increasing need to make Australian agriculture sector an attractive career for people, stated South Australian Farmers Federation’s Peter White adding that farming cannot compete with the pay packages offered in mining sector.

Agriculture will provide $ 32 billion in exports in the current year and had given jobs to nearly 317,000 Australians, Mr. Crombie stated.

But, in the absence of needed reforms to the policy of Australian work visas, the agriculture industry of Australia could find itself in doldrums, claimed the NFF.

Hence, the NFF has asked the Australian government for introducing a new type of Australian visa for agriculture to bring desired improvements in the agriculture sector. This includes making it necessary for all new migrants wanting to work as agriculture labor to accept working in regional areas.