Dealing with a crunch - the fruit industry's labour shortage

Despite 2000 more seasonal workers due to arrive in New Zealand from January 2021, things aren't looking too rosy according some growers in the Hawkes Bay region. Produced by Kadambari Raghukumar. Jaswinder Singh, Jass for short, has been growing apples and pears for the past 15 years as well as running a labour supply company in Hawkes Bay.He's been struggling to make sure all his clients have their fruit trees thinned and vegetable and stone fruit picked on time, with his limited team of workers. "We tend to have shortages here in Hawkes Bay, but this is the worst shortage I have ever seen in my time here as a grower."Subscribe to Voices for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Radio Public and iHeart Radio or wherever you listen to your podcasts. Preview this audio Covid-19 lockdowns and border restrictions have seen groups of workers from Samoa and Vanuatu staying on past ther end of the last picking season. Jaswinder is a popular man, known to go all out to make sure his workers are looked after.Most recently, he was in the news for having helped one of his seasonal workers, a pregnant woman from Vanuatu with all the necessary arrangements through her pregnancy while NZ was in lockdown. Unable to work or fly back home, she depended on her RSE employer - Jass's company, Teamworks - to help. Jass, the community along with other RSE workers rallied together help her during the time. The worker's baby was named after Jass's company's pastoral care manager - Maurane Vertut. About 14,000 RSE workers come to New Zealand each year. Growers and contractors like Jass are making do with some of the 6000 workers who stayed back since the last picking season. On a hot day in Hawkes Bay, the shines shines strong and relentlessly. The asparagus are ready to pick and there is no time to waste. What would normally be done by at least 15 people, picking is underway with 7 people. Picking under overhead sun isn't what they'd normally do. "They'd finish by 10 or 11 a.m in the mornings" says Jass. There doesn't appear to be much of a choice at the moment.At the pear orchard and the vineyards, the warming temperature and recent rains are making everything burst in growth, which means a lot of thinning - an essential task to make sure fruit are plentiful and large. Simultaneously, stone fruit and now becoming ready to pick. So with limited labour Jass has been sending his boys to pick and prune in batches across different blocks and orchards. …Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details