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Trefor Ward / Supplied
Darien McFadden says his “anxiety levels are through the roof” due to a lack of workers.
A Waikato berry farm relies on punters choosing their own clients to keep revenue at peak as its business operations struggle to find workers due to a nationwide labor shortage.
Darien McFadden, owner of Strawberry Fields near Hamilton, anticipates that a third of his 10-acre commercial crop will rot due to a shortage of personnel.
In summer, it normally employs 160 people.
He is currently 30.
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It has put great pressure on McFadden, who said Stuff not enough fruit was being harvested to meet the demand.
His trading business supplied fruit to both foreign markets and Countdown supermarkets, but this year the quantity supplied would be significantly less.
McFadden said that due to staff shortages, he would have to let some blocks rot because they would not have staff to pick them up.
“The fruit will be wasted and will create a supply and demand problem for the export and domestic markets.
“The demand is certainly there… our products have never been more sought after.
“But the difficulty is making sure we have enough workers to do the harvest.”
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One third of Strawberry Fields berries will not be picked this year due to a lack of workers.
While his business operation ran the risk of berries rotting, he was confident that the community would support his own Whatawhata Berry Farm.
Strawberries may be harder to come by on supermarket shelves due to a shortage of pickers, so he said the farm was expecting record numbers.
“The situation could well make strawberries more expensive and harder to find in the supermarket this year.
“But the answer is to go directly to the local berry farm and pick them yourself.”
McFadden has been working with the Ministry of Social Development to hire domestic workers, but said people weren’t applying.
Foreign workers typically held about 70,000 jobs across the country.
That number dropped to about 13,000.
Paying Kiwi a higher salary to attract more staff was also not a viable option, he said.
“I don’t think that works.
“You get the same people, the same productivity, but you pay more for them.
“We show Kiwis that the opportunities are there to make a lot of money, but they still don’t get involved … they just don’t want to get involved with the job.
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McFadden is confident that the community will support his berry farm.
“If my staff can demonstrate their productivity, I will pay them more.”
Despite supply problems, export consultations from the United States of America and Canada remained strong.
That was thanks to New Zealand’s Covid-free status, McFadden said.
“The challenges are the freight rate and the ability of the airlines to move that cargo … the freight rate used to be $ 1.40 in the last three or four years, but now it’s something like $ 3.80. kg.
“The positive side is that we are getting a good demand from the States, because people are looking for strawberries without Covid.”
