AUSVEG has been working with political representatives and industry partners to ensure that the vegetable industry’s concerns are raised at the Federal Government’s upcoming Jobs and Skills Summit.

AUSVEG has provided input to ministerial roundtables with the agriculture and trade ministers to ensure that pertinent issues affecting vegetable growers are raised and considered by the Federal Government.

The vegetable industry’s needs are unique compared with other industries, and solutions to its problems must be tailored to the specific needs of the industry.

Major issues raised by AUSVEG include:

• Urgent need for a plan around regional accommodation to ensure that workers are able to live and work near farming regions.
• Processing the significant backlog of visa applications to ensure that those who are willing and wanting to come into Australia to work can do so.
• Consider alternative labour solutions to help those who want to work to do so, including simplifying Temporary Visa conditions to allow temporary visa holders to work longer hours, extend their visa and apply for permanent residency.

AUSVEG has joined other food supply chain associations, as members of the Food Supply Chain Alliance, to highlight the critical shortage of labour across the food supply chain, totalling over 170k, which will ultimately impact food availability and prices. The group’s efforts have been widely reported across regional and national print, radio, TV and online news, and have been echoed by politicians and other industry representatives in the leadup to the Jobs and Skills Summit.

Tackling the price of food and issues with food availability can be achieved by finding viable, practical solutions to the chronic labour shortages in the food supply chain.