For Vernon, this past season s been his hardest ever. I ve had fruit that I ve left behind because we couldn t go back and pick the last pick, he explained.
Orchardists say the various Government efforts to encourage Kiwi workers into the industry - like the $5000 to Work scheme - were a miserable failure . The $5000 hasn t paid off at all in my view, he said, and they didn t last.
The Government s now freeing up 300 managed isolation spots a month for recognised seasonal workers, which costs orchardists $6000 per person. These are people that know our orchards, they know our industry, they ve been working for a long time, says Teviot Valley orchardist Stephen Darling. And every week we delay we re losing those skilled people to Australia.