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Fruit is being left to rot on the trees as Hawke's Bay growers face the worst employment shortage in years.
Hawke's Bay Fruit Growers Association executive officer Dianne Vesty said low unemployment rates and the high New Zealand dollar meant growers were struggling to find workers.
"We've got massive crops to come off now and people are screaming out all over the place for workers," she told NZPA.
"I haven't evidenced so many Fruit Pickers Wanted signs out for quite some time.
"I mean, yesterday we had 72 individual jobs going for fruit pickers and 11 inquiries about work. There's a real deficit of people that are available out there."
Last year there were labour shortages during the peak of the picking season, but this year there has been a bigger fruit crop and the shortage of pickers looks like extending beyond the peaks.
It was a lot tougher than last year and the problem had been getting worse over time, Ms Vesty said.
"New Zealand's economy is going along pretty well, employment is very, very high and that's positive.
"But, to keep wages and things up we've got to have exporters earning incomes and if their income's sitting on the tree unharvested it stops a lot of cash flow through a region and through a country."
Ms Vesty said she had heard of at least three cases of contractors who had been unable to find sufficient workers to fulfil their contracts.
"There will be crops that are missed because of a lack of staff."
The number of foreign workers had also dropped from last year, which might be due to the high New Zealand dollar putting people off working holidays, Ms Vesty said.
With New Zealanders unable to fulfil the work, foreign workers were essential.
A partial solution to the problem was in the works with a bill being drafted in Parliament, which would allow growers to advertise overseas for up to 5000 workers to help fill the gaps.
Picking was hard work, but it paid well, Ms Vesty said.
The minimum bin rate in Hawke's Bay was abound $30 a bin. An average picker filled about three to four bins a day.
Hawke's Bay was one of the most diverse growing areas in New Zealand, ranging from apples and grapes to berries.
If workers had transferable skills there were employment possibilities for 10 months of the year, Ms Vesty said.
Pipfruit New Zealand services manager Gary Jones said nationally 12,000 were needed to pick apples in the peak season from February to May, 3000 more than last year.
The crop in Hawke's Bay was 22 per cent larger than last year, requiring 7000 seasonal workers for the peak season -- 1900 more than last year.
Work and Income offices had declared a seasonal labour shortage in the major apple growing regions of Hawke's Bay, Nelson, Central Otago and Waikato which allowed backpackers and other travellers on tourist visas to get permits to work in the apple industry in those regions.
- NZPA
