Blog Post
Farmers see surge in job applications from cities
Elizabeth Gracie
A rise in unemployment rates stemming from the COVID 19 pandemic has resulted in an increased number of newly-unemployed city workers looking for jobs on regional farms across the country.
Northern Territory Farmers Association Chief Executive Paul Burke said that “In the first few days after the shutdown of hospitality and much of retail, we received over 122 enquiries for work and these came from a cross section of all the community.”
He further noted that, “we do think our industry does have an opportunity to be able to provide a glimmer of hope for some of those people who have lost their jobs”, however this too has its own hurdles that must be overcome.
Burke notes that the fruit and vegetable industry needs to overcome obstacles around accommodation and transport in relation to social distancing, and develop clear guidelines around COVID-19 as a matter of priority before new workers arrive.
The additional quarantine measures being enforced by the NT government will also serve to protect vulnerable regional communities and protect Australia's agricultural sector.
The Territory Government has also launched a website to match job seekers in the Northern Territory with employment opportunities in the agricultural sector. Burke believes the other states would be wise to follow.
The many Australians that are looking to secure employment are also doing so at the expense of the backpackers and seasonal international workers who usually fill those positions. This also brings in the ethical considerations of farmers to support international workers who are not eligible for emergency income payments or support local workers who are in the throes of unemployment.
Trevor Whittington, CEO of WA Farmers Association said that for job applicants there was a clear lack of seasonality or skill sets needed for agricultural work. In Western Australia alone there are “less than 30,000 full time jobs in agriculture, many of them skilled and semi skilled to support the broadacre grains and livestock acres”.
“Overall while there is a growing pool of Australians and backpackers seeking work the reality is there are limited jobs and most of the Australian unemployed won't be interested in the short term and itinerant nature of fruit picking in remote communities like Carnarvon and Kununurra”, says Whittington.
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As a Landcare group, one of our main interests is to increase ecological resilience in our local area. Many of our landscapes have been cleared of vegetation in previous decades, so we have the task of supporting landholders to plant trees and shrubs to replace those that are missing. The benefits of revegetation are manifold. They include providing habitat for a range of native animals; controlling erosion and salinity; increasing farm productivity through nutrient cycling and shade and shelter for stock; and drawing down carbon from the atmosphere. But as weather patterns become more variable and we experience more climatic extremes, we need to think about which plant species – and which plant genetics – are most appropriate in our revegetation efforts. We are forced to ask will our local plantings be able to survive our future climate? Up until recently, it has been common for people to preference locally sourced seed when re-planting. This has been based on the idea that such plants will be best adapted to local conditions. However, there is growing understanding among scientists and land managers that we need to shift our focus to plants that can persist as the climate changes. This involves looking at which plant species are most appropriate by focussing on species that have a wide distribution and grow in our area and also in hotter areas, and increasing the genetic diversity of our tubestock so they have the best potential to adapt over successive generations. Our Landcare group has been tackling this issue for the past several years, working with scientists and AdaptNSW to find the best way forward. There are several key steps involved: understanding our local future climate, analysing whether selected local species can survive in climates like the one projected for our area, and sourcing seed for those likely-to-survive species from a range of areas to increase the genetic diversity of our plantings. Planting the right species with good genetic diversity gives revegetation projects the best chance of survival into the future. It’s not just about making sure the individual tubestock will grow, but that future generations of those plants will be able to survive and thrive. Luckily there are some good resources available for farmers, land managers and groups interested in climate ready revegetation. The Royal Botanic Garden Sydney has launched the Restore and Renew Webtool ( https://www.restore-and-renew.org.au/ ), which is a wonderful way for people to incorporate both climate change and genetic information when sourcing seed or plants. The NSW Niche Finder is invaluable for those who want to dig further into climate variables and species distribution ( http://www.nswnichefinder.net/ ). For future climate information, the CSIRO and Bureau of Meteorology have joined forces to provide a user-friendly online tool ( https://myclimateview.com.au/ ). And AdaptNSW also provides projected climate change information for different regions of the state ( https://www.climatechange.environment.nsw.gov.au/projections-map ). The Yass Area Network of Landcare Groups also has detailed information about our work on climate ready revegetation and relevant resources our website: https://yan.org.au/projects/climate-ready-revegetation-project As the climate changes, our revegetation efforts are more important than ever. And we need to make sure that they are ‘climate ready’ so that their benefits persist well into the future.
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