Boost for horticulture jobs, industry

From left, Horticulture New Zealand chief executive officer Mike Chapman and president Julian Raine with guest speaker Immigration Minister Michael Woodhouse and national co-ordinator for seasonal labour of Horticulture New Zealand, Jerf van Beek, who is also a Hawke's Bay grower at the Recognised Seasonal Employers Conference at Te Awa Winery in Hastings. Photo / Duncan Brown

Thousands of jobs will be created thanks to a projected 20 per cent increase in horticulture volumes by 2020, an increase made possible thanks to the Recognised Seasonal Employers (RSE) scheme.

The ninth annual RSE Conference at Mission Estate Winery looked at ways to support the scheme, which brings overseas workers into New Zealand at times of peak labour demand and continues to be an integral part of industry growth.

Pipfuit New Zealand CEO Alan Pollard said the pipfruit sector would be a third smaller were it not for the RSE scheme.

"You have to get the fruit off the tree at optimum quality - in a very short, defined window - and the RSE guys allow us to do it," he said.

"They have the same guys year after year so they have already built up skill-sets. It has allowed our industries to invest in more technology, more trees etc."

A cornerstone of the scheme is a New Zealander-first policy for available jobs and Minister of Social Development Anne Tolley said there were several training programmes to ready unemployed people for jobs.

Ngati Kahungunu Iwi Incorporated chairman Ngahiwi Tomoana said the growth of RSE had put pressure on the local labour market to provide comparably-skilled workers with flexible hours.

Seasonal work was always seen as a way to supplement unemployed or low-income households' incomes and many Maori were no longer considered for jobs, creating hardship.

The Hua Initiative would fill 2000 jobs with whanau, thanks to a partnership between Ngati Kahungunu and local employers such as Mr Apple, Crasborns Group, Bostock New Zealand, T&G and Johnny Appleseed.

"The biggest impact for iwi is permanent jobs for whanau and we are keen to spearhead anything that supports that," Mr Tomoana said.