Visa changes bring fresh woes
Rural Contractors NZ says members are frustrated at having to work through more layers to get visas approved for skilled seasonal machinery operators ahead of the imminent season start. Andrew Olsen comments.
OPINION: Crunch time is approaching for the country’s agricultural contractors.
It’s clear that the cultivation and planting of crops could be in jeopardy if some skilled machinery operators aren’t allowed in.
Rural Contractors NZ has just finished surveying its members and has found that 57 contractors urgently need a total of 206 skilled operators.
They’re needed to service 8213 clients. Federated Farmers says many of those would be its members.
Without this annual influx of highly skilled drivers and operators, RCNZ estimates there would be a 32% downturn in activity, worth $65 million.
The effect of that would be the loss of nearly 28 million tonnes of production, with a value in excess of $110 million.
These are whopping numbers. Not allowing these skilled machine operators on the grounds that there are enough locals to do the job is absurd.
Timing is critical: we’re on the cusp of spring activity and we need to get these seasonal workers on flights and into quarantine for two weeks.
Federated Farmers employment spokesperson Chris Lewis wrote to the new Immigration Minister Kris Fafoi and his message was clear.
If managed entry can’t be found for the machinery operators, experienced senior dairy staff and a limited number of other skilled technical staff, there is significant potential for economic, health & safety and animal welfare issues across the primary industries that could otherwise be avoided.
Lewis rightly points out that exemptions have been allowed for workers laying synthetic tracks for horse racing, for the movie industry, and others.
The farming sector shares the Government’s desire to train Kiwis for these roles, and action is happening on that front. The 40 places on the first of six planned agricultural drivers’ courses at SIT’s Telford campus have all been taken.
They should graduate with the ability to safely drive a tractor, but not the combine harvesters and silage machines that can be worth a million dollars or more.
“Newer drivers need to gain experience with tractors on basic tasks in simple country before they can move on to more complex machines. The majority of fatalities in agriculture involve vehicles and the last thing anyone wants is inexperienced vehicle operators put in situations where they end up having an accident.”
The resurgence of Covid-19 last week marks a new twist. What happens over the next few weeks will be crucial.
For rural contractors, the agonising wait continues.
Managing director of Woolover Ltd, David Brown, has put a lot of effort into verifying what seems intuitive, that keeping newborn stock's core temperature stable pays dividends by helping them realise their full genetic potential.
Within the next 10 years, New Zealand agriculture will need to manage its largest-ever intergenerational transfer of wealth, conservatively valued at $150 billion in farming assets.
Boutique Waikato cheese producer Meyer Cheese is investing in a new $3.5 million facility, designed to boost capacity and enhance the company's sustainability credentials.
OPINION: The Government's decision to rule out changes to Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT) that would cost every farmer thousands of dollars annually, is sensible.
Compensation assistance for farmers impacted by Mycoplama bovis is being wound up.
Selecting the reverse gear quicker than a lovestruck boyfriend who has met the in-laws for the first time, the Coalition Government has confirmed that the proposal to amend Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT) charged against farm utes has been canned.
OPINION: Years of floods and low food prices have driven a dairy farm in England's northeast to stop milking its…
OPINION: An animal activist organisation is calling for an investigation into the use of dairy cows in sexuallly explicit content…