Orchard manager Murray Booth says there needs to be change now – it’s not just about one tough season, it’s long term. 

Murray Booth manages both the 45-hectare Earnscleugh Orchard, and the 21-hectare Hollandia Orchard.

He normally employs 50 or more RSE (Recognised Seasonal Employment) workers each season; he currently has six.

Many of these RSE workers had become highly trained and highly productive over the past thirteen seasons.

“We’ve got 40 Kiwis coming for work; no-one trained.

“All these people need training, and fast, and there’s just me and six Vanuatuans.”

Kiwis, he said, tended to view horticulture simply as a holiday money spinner.

This meant training would become constant this year, if Kiwis did not stay on to develop a higher skill level.

“They don’t know anything about apples, apart from buying them in the shop.”

Everyone talks about the harvest, Murray said, but there was so much more.

“If we don’t get trees thinned and they’re overloaded, we’ll have fruit you can’t pick.

“Then the young trees don’t grow because they’re overloaded; it all has longer term impact, and that’s only one aspect.”

Murray said they had started thinning early, knowing it would take longer this year.

“We’re also mindful there’s cherry growers that will be screaming out for people come Christmas.

“So we’ve only got till Christmas to get our work done.”

“After Christmas there’s apricots, then apples, then there’s pruning.”

“People could get work right through until May, if they want it.”

“We’ve invested a lot of time and money into the trees to keep the fruit sound and the nutrition to the trees.

“The wheel is turning, we can’t just stop, we have to keep going to get the fruit to market.”

Murray said they had employed Kiwis previously, who did not see horticulture as a long term career choice. In the last few years there were few Kiwis as unemployment in Central Otago had been low.

“We want Kiwis to realise there’s a lot of opportunity in the horticulture industry, it’s a good career choice, not just a holiday job.”

“There’s plenty of jobs, permanent work with qualifications and a good future.”

Murray said he worried about the RSE workers, who he come to know well over the years. He had been to the islands and knew their families.

He said some had only been home a short time and wished they’d never left – they need the money.

“Tourism’s their biggest earner, and there’s no cruise ships.

“Their second biggest earner is RSE income, so that’s two main incomes gone, and self-sufficiency is their only option to survive without income.”

“They don’t benefit from government aid pay-outs like they do with this work.

“They take home skills that benefit their whole community, they build good fences, grow good food and provide for each other.”

“Also, if it weren’t for the RSE workers, we wouldn’t have the new developments, we wouldn’t have seen the growth in our industry here.”

Murray employs over 50 RSE workers each year.

Murray said he sees the practical solution as a mix of both Kiwis and RSE workers.

“We need young Kiwis coming through to develop skills, but we also need the highly experienced RSE workers.”

“Their work output is tremendous.”

“They want to do a good job, they’re serious about the work and have a good work ethic.”

“If Kiwis learned to see horticulture as a serious career path, then opportunities would open up for them. It’s a cultural shift for Kiwis.”

“When we got the first RSE workers in 2006, it was because we were having trouble with labour – it’s the same now, fourteen years on.”

“We were trying to run a business, and we would be wondering each day who would turn up to do the work.”

“Back then, Kiwis didn’t treat it like a real job – and they still don’t.”

Murray said he had tried to employ Kiwis over the last few years as he developed new orchards, but for most, attitudes to horticulture as a career had not changed.

“RSE workers are here because they want to be here.

"They take pride in their work, they know if they do a good job thinning, it will be better when they come to pick. If they look after the trees, there’ll be lots of work for everyone next season.

"They look at the long term; plus they develop skills and knowledge that benefit their families.”

“They’ve stayed long term, they get the seasonal cycle and see the impacts of the quality of their work; they understand.

“If a Kiwi just stays a week, they don’t get that.

“It wouldn’t work in other businesses, so why is it expected to work for us?”

Murray said it was frustrating and stressful to have lost the majority of their skilled workers.

“COVID hit at apple harvest, so we just haven’t stopped. We did it right and kept everybody safe in their bubbles, we got them home when they wanted to see their families; you go through all that – then this.

“We’ve just got to keep smiling.”

Murray hopes that Kiwis will shift their attitudes towards horticulture work.

“This is a serious industry, it gives a serious contribution to the economy and contributes in a big way to our communities.

“It’s a serious career and the knowledge is practical.”

He called for the Government to recognise they need their men back, and they need them now - for this season, to set up for future seasons and to give time to train Kiwis.

“Our foundations have gone.”

“You can’t build new foundations overnight with new people – it’s just not possible.”

IMAGES: Supplied