Hawke’s Bay apple and pear growers have been operating in a declared seasonal labour shortage since March 12 as that industry experiences a 10% surge in crop volumes over last year.
Last week Zespri despatched the first shipment of the season’s kiwifruit to China as that industry starts to grapple with the implications of an anticipated 16% surge in crop volumes over last year.
Nikki Johnson, chief executive of New Zealand Kiwifruit Growers Incorporated (NZKGI), said the expected harvest of 140m trays was up on last year and would be close to the bumper 2016 harvest season.
But it was coming as the pool of foreign students in the region had dried up, and the usual supply of backpacker tourist workers appears less inclined to pick kiwifruit.
“It would appear we have similar issues to what the apple sector in Hawke’s Bay is experiencing around backpackers. While we seem to have the same number coming into the region, they are not opting to go fruit picking for earning income.”
She said there were some theories why, but one was that apple and kiwifruit picking were regarded as tougher jobs.
This was confirmed by Richard Bibby, acting president for Master Contractors, the body representing horticultural and viticultural seasonal industries.
“Social media and Facebook indicate vineyard work is easier work than apples and we think kiwifruit, and the word is to steer clear of the Bay of Plenty or Hawke’s Bay for apples or kiwifruit.”
He acknowledged grape picking would rank more favourably in terms of ease of work, but good apple and kiwifruit pickers could gross about $1000 a week if they worked hard.
Proficient kiwifruit pickers can expect to earn $20 an hour or more.
Johnson said in the next two weeks kiwifruit move into a critical phase with early Green harvest beginning.
“We had similar volumes of fruit in the 2016 harvest, but then it was split between Green and Gold. This time there is more Gold, and it is more critical when it is picked to optimise its quality.”
This season’s crop looks like it will earn more than $2 billion, up from $1.65b last year and putting the sector well on track to hit the $6b by 2030 estimated in a Plant and Food Research-Zespri report released last year. That report also estimated a further 29,000 new jobs would be created by the sector’s growth.
But the industry acknowledges the labour challenges for this season’s crop are only a sample of what is to come as the full impact of increased SunGold plantings kicks in.
Zespri has increased the area for SunGold licences to 700ha a year over the next four years subject to yearly review, with each year’s licence issue adding at least a further 10 million trays.
Johnson said NZKGI was researching labour demands to better gauge short and long-term labour pressures, with a report due out in coming weeks.
She said Bay of Plenty was also being hit by the loss of Indian students, after the closure of language schools in the region. They would have comprised almost 15% of the labour force two years ago.
Katikati had been hit particularly hard by the shortage, which extended beyond orchards into packhouses seeking skilled machinery operators and seasonal packing workers.
Bibby said the Recognised Seasonal Employers (RSE) scheme was invaluable for meeting the labour supply gap. He couldn’t see any increase on the cap of 11,100 set in December coming this season, but believed there was a case to lift it next season.
“We are seeing strong growth across all sectors of horticulture including kiwifruit, apples and viticulture and we will not have the capacity to harvest. You see the scary figures on NZ’s ability to recruit workers here, with Work and Income people not showing any interest.”
He said if the RSE cap was lifted to 15,000 it would give the industry some lee-way in managing big harvest surges.
“Rather than a review every year, maybe make it reviewed every three, and make it easer to re-allocate workers at short notice when shortages come up.”
He was encouraged by the reception industry had received from Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway.
Johnson said NZKGI was compiling a report on labour issues that would help present a case to the minister for greater numbers of RSE workers.
Zespri confident of bumper crop
While a bumper kiwifruit harvest will provide headaches for those responsible for picking and processing fruit, Zespri is optimistic strong consumer demand will continue for the new season.
The marketer has reported growth rates continuing strongly in key markets of China and Japan, and remains confident that the 16% expected increase in crop volume this year will be absorbed by the market without compromising grower returns.
David Courtney, Zespri general manager for grower and external relations, said the decision four years ago to renew a focus on the Japanese market was paying dividends.
“For many years Japanese consumers were eating less and less fresh fruit. We focused on investing heavily to build our penetration into that market in terms of consumer awareness of the Zespri brand, and also investing in health messaging to get people returning to buy again.”
The result has been a market that despite a population decline of 0.6% (800,000) a year, has grown by 30% in the past four years. Japan now accounts for about 20% of the company’s total sales.
Last year Zespri sold a record 24m trays of kiwifruit in Japan, up from 21m the year before.
Sales to Japan are budgeted to maintain their upward trajectory, increasing about 25% over the next five years.
The aging population has preferred more processed, convenient products and kiwifruit’s success has been driven by offering sweeter, ready to eat fruit.
Japanese tariffs cost growers $26m last year, but the new Trans-Pacific Partnership has players hopeful they will slide to zero.
China’s growth also remains strong, and is now Zespri’s leading market with sales of $500m last year.
Combined with Japan, the two markets make up $1 billion out of about $2.3b total sales for 2016-17.
