Put in the effort to attract the younger folk, don't just whinge...

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TillLindemann

14,681 Posts.

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06/08/20

16:10

Post #: 46353586
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Originally posted by nutcracker: ↑

I owned a fruit property for a number of years and other than Australian individuals in the 50 + range, you were almost wasting your time looking at younger individuals.
Most would turn up for work one day and the grower would get excited if they turned up the next, most times if they did - it was to be paid only.
Most produce payment is per bin, other than fruit that bruise easily or where fruit has to be picked by size or selected for its ripeness which then would be paid on whatever the applicable hourly rate is.
Firstly it was impossible [especially on large citrus properties] to get the number of pickers and secondly on smaller & larger properties many of the younger Aussies were far too slow, [ when paid on what they pick ]accordingly they would be struggling to make a decent days wage and in their minds they were getting far better money on Centrelink benefits.
As others have mentioned the Government handouts are too generous plus people don't want to do the work, compared to either backpackers or Islanders who need the money.
With some of the larger properties they need a 100 or so pickers a day, those numbers are not available with locals or seasonal workers- hence the reason for bringing in overseas labour and I guess the reason machine technology has been developed to counteract the issue. e.g grapes, almonds, some stone fruit all mechanically harvested.
Certainly you don't need a university degree to do the work, it does however take common sense- without backpackers & Islanders a large Australian export/import market would be lost.
Like many other areas we have become a Nation of snowflakes, particularly in this field where very few younger folk are prepared to do the hard yards.

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Put in the effort to attract the younger folk, don't just whinge about it.

If they can get teams of people out here in western NSW to go cotton chipping, or rouseabouting, or working at the silos for Graincorp, I don't see why it's so hard to get people fruit picking.
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