Tuesday, 14 July 2020 11:11

Pig sector joins the chorus

Written by  David Anderson
Pork NZ says the country’s pig farming industry relies on experienced workers from overseas to meet a shortfall in staff with the necessary skills required to work with the country’s pig herd. Pork NZ says the country’s pig farming industry relies on experienced workers from overseas to meet a shortfall in staff with the necessary skills required to work with the country’s pig herd.

Pig farmers have joined a growing chorus in the primary sector calling on the Government to urgently review its migrant worker policies in the wake of Covid-19.

Both agricultural contractors and dairy farming organisations have also recently asked for rule changes around migrant workers. 

“Each year, New Zealand’s pig farming industry relies on experienced workers from overseas to meet a shortfall in staff with the necessary skills required to work with the country’s pig herd,” explains NZ Pork chief executive David Baines. 

He says the pig industry is concerned that skilled migrants already working on pig farms in New Zealand may not have their visas renewed or existing workers trying to return from overseas visits will be blocked, leaving many farmers with significant staffing shortages. 

“The sector’s strong preference would be to have a pool of available skilled and unskilled New Zealand workers,” Baines claims. 

“However, pig farming is a relatively niche sector in New Zealand and the reality is that there is a significant shortage of New Zealanders applying for these roles.”

He says the pork sector relies on a supply of skilled migrant workers who have been trained in their home countries. 

“The numbers in total are small, particularly compared to major industries such as dairy, but the productivity of the industry is very vulnerable because of the precision nature of pig farming.”

Baines says NZ Pork has requested an urgent meeting with the Minister of Immigration Iain Lees-Galloway to discuss the issue.

He says pig farmers have raised concerns that migrant staff may not have their visas renewed this year. 

“Or that migrant workers cannot currently enter New Zealand and that existing staff on visas are facing difficulties returning from overseas visits as a result of immigration measures taken in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.” 

Baines says other issues include the cost of visas, processing times, a lack of pathway to residency and a lack of consistency from Immigration New Zealand in terms of visa length and conditions. 

“While we recognise that Covid-19 has and will continue to leave New Zealanders out of work and hopefully create some opportunities locals who are prepared and willing to work on pig farms,” Baines added. 

“The sector cannot wait for such people to perhaps become available. Our animals need continuous skilled and committed care to be provided.”

More like this

Locally grown fruits, veg in full supply

One of the country’s two largest supermarket chains is reporting that for the first time since the disruption of Covid, they have largely full supply on almost all fruit and vegetables grown locally.

Global shipping rates soar again

Covid-19 took global shipping rates to mind boggling highs, but over the subsequent 12-15 months they returned to more sustainable levels. Fast forward to July 2024 and rates have nearly doubled over three months.

HortNZ helps growers rebuild, recover

Horticulture New Zealand (HortNZ) chief executive Nadine Tunley says the industry-good body’s support for growers has proven to be multifaceted.

Featured

LCAs tackle false narratives

The quest to measure, report and make sense of the energy that goes into food production has come a long way in the past 25 years.

OSPRI's costly software upgrade

Animal disease management agency OSPRI has announced sweeping governance changes as it seeks to recover from the expensive failure of a major software project.

Organic sector backtracks on GE

Organics Aotearoa New Zealand (OANZ) says the Government’s new gene editing and genetic modification reforms could leave New Zealand as an outlier on the global stage.

National

Food charity to hold online auction

Meat the Need, New Zealand’s dedicated charity delivering locally sourced protein meals to food-insecure communities, is launching an online National…

Machinery & Products

An ideal solution for larger farms

Designed specifically for large farms that want to drill with maximum flexibility, efficiency and power, the new Lemken Solitair ST…

Landpower increases its offering

Landpower and the Claas Harvest Centre network will launch the Claas Scorpion and Torion material handling solutions to the market…

» Latest Print Issues Online

The Hound

Leaky waka

OPINION: Was the ASB Economic Weekly throwing shade on Reserve Bank governor Adrian Orr when reporting on his speech in…

Know-it-alls

OPINION: A reader recently had a shot at the various armchair critics that she judged to be more than a…

» Connect with Rural News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter