increase font size
Australia is providing tough competition for New Zealand farmers recruiting overseas workers, says Federated Farmers.
Farmers welcome the state approval of 500 extra overseas workers but warn that it's not a silver bullet for the sector's labour woes.
Federated Farmers immigration spokesman Chris Lewis told Dairy News that he welcomes the government move.
But while it's good news and will help in the coming season, Lewis warns that getting labour from overseas is not the solution.
He says for farmers, recruiting staff from overseas is not the first cab off the rank. He points to the time and cost of recruiting staff from overseas.
"There is a lot of paperwork back and forth to get staff from overseas and it can take between four and six weeks for Filipinos to get a medical in their country," he told Dairy News.
"It's the same in a lot of other countries, including NZ. You may spend between $70k and $80k to get a worker. For many farmers it's the route of desperation," he says.
Lewis says the other challenge in recruiting Filipino workers is the attractive options across the ditch in Australia. He points to the fact that many of the wives and partners of Filipino workers are employed in the healthcare sector. He says the Australian healthcare sector offers considerably better pay than NZ and this can influence a worker's decision about which country to work in. Lewis adds that Australia has also provided more in the way of subsidies to farmers to recruit overseas workers than NZ has.
While the cash may be better in Australia, Lewis points out the actual working conditions on farms in NZ are better. He says the country needs to do more to highlight this.
"For a start, NZ is recognised as offering better training on farm than Australia. We offer accommodation on our farms, whereas in Australia if you work on a farm you may have to live in a town and travel to the farm because they don't provide housing. The NZ climate and the absence of snakes and spiders is also seen as an advantage," he says.
Overall, Lewis acknowledges there is problem recruiting staff to work on NZ dairy farms. He points to the example of demand for labour in the construction industry. But he says farmers have made huge strides in making work on dairy farms here more attractive. Cheap rent and better and more reasonable working hours are part of the changes made.
He says one of the barometers for determining the worker shortage is to follow the job adverts for workers on Farm Source and Trade Me. He says two or three years ago there were between 400 to 600 jobs for dairy workers advertised.
"Now it's around 1,200," he says.
A rare weather double-whammy has seen many South Island farmers having to deal with unseasonal snow while still cut off from power supplies after an unprecedented windstorm.
OPINION: Recent media commentary from Southland Federated Farmers has raised concerns among our rural communities, particularly around Environment Southland’s approach to winter grazing inspections and nitrogen reporting. But let’s be clear, much of what’s been said simply doesn’t reflect reality.
OPINION: Environment Canterbury's (ECan) decision recently to declare a so-called “nitrate emergency” is laughable.
A shameless political stunt is how Federated Farmers is describing the Canterbury Regional Council decision to declare “a nitrate emergency” on the back of its latest annual groundwater quality survey.
Federated Farmers say Environment Canterbury's decision to declare a 'nitrate emergency' is a shameless political stunt that won't help anyone.
DairyNZ chair Tracy Brown is urging dairy farmers to participate in the 2026 Levy vote, to be held early next year.
Beef + Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ) is calling for nominations for director roles in the Eastern North Island and Southern South Island electoral districts.
Going one better than a frustratingly close second place finish at last year's event, the country's top axeman, Jack Jordan of Taumaranui, last weekend won the Stihl Timbersports World Championship individual event in.
Canterbury A&P Association (CAPA) show president Brent Chamberlain says a big development for this year is the Wool Zone, first introduced two years ago as a showplace for everything produced from wool, but now greatly enlarged with its own Wool Marquee and more than 30 trade sites.
Salmonellosis is a serious disease in cattle.
Drench resistance is already hitting farm profits; it's not just a future problem.
OPINION: Microplastics are turning up just about everywhere in the global food supply, including in fish, cups of tea, and…
OPINION: At a time when dairy prices are at record highs, no one was expecting the world's second largest dairy…
