No silver bullet

Chief executive Tim Mackle says his organisation has been working hard to ensure the Government understands the huge pressure farmers are under due to workforce shortages.

"We have pushed for 1,500 international dairy workers to be allowed into the country in time for the 2022 dairy season on 1 June," he told Rural News. "We made it clear to government that the 300 dairy border class workers previously approved was nowhere near enough to meet the demands on-farm."

Federated Farmers' Chris Lewis says while the announcement is good, he warns that getting labour from overseas is no silver bullet for the industry. He says recruiting staff from overseas is not the first cab off the rank.

"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 Rural 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."

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 and the pay is much better in Australia.

He says while the cash may be better in Australia the actual working conditions on farms in NZ are better and he says we need to do more to highlight these.