Orchards flooded with Kiwi job applicants, young workers flock to Otago

Summer fruit growers are struggling with a new problem this season, but it's a good problem to have.

Central Otago orchardists have been flooded with applicants who are keen to pick stone fruit this year, with demand far greater than in previous years.

While many of us wind down for summer, orchards are ramping up for a bumper crop, with much of the ripe summer fruit destined for the supermarkets and export.

As the saying goes, "many hands make light work," and that's the case for 45 South Cherries in Cromwell. Recruitment manager Rachel Ois told 1News, the number of applicants this year had been "crazy".

“Lots and lots of applicants ... currently on our online database, there's 3879 sitting there on what we call our ‘waitlist’.

"It’s good, obviously, [but] there's a lot of time on the phone," she said.

The company believes around 20% of staff in any given year have been Kiwis, but this year it has risen to around 44% - more than double what it previously was. Many of the keen and committed pickers are young New Zealanders aged between 16 and 25.

Fourth-generation Central Otago grower Simon Webb from Webb’s Fruit said his orchard has a “big percentage of Kiwis working ... a lot of them are young students, university or school.”

Sixteen-year-old Niko Monteiro came down from Bay of Plenty for work, as “employment up in Tauranga isn't that good.

"I think coming down here, there's a lot of opportunities for work.”

Meanwhile, picking cherries for the first time, 18-year-old Blake Richards has also come down from the North Island.

“I'm here because [it’s] my first job, you know, I need some money,” he laughs. “Get a car, explore [the] South Island while I'm here, do something else instead of sitting at home.”

Nineteen-year-old Shirlee-Anne Nicol has enjoyed her time on the orchard.

“It took me off the benefit, and it's helping me pay my bills, get some savings, it’s pretty cool,” she said.

It’s not just fruit pickers the orchards are looking for, but bucket lifters and staff for the packhouses.

Nineteen-year-old Central Otago local Grace White told 1News that young people are making the most of the opportunity and experience.

“Rather get the work done now in a big chunk than spread it out over the year… then it's just a few weeks of hard, long work and then a year of more freedom throughout the school year, focus on studies and travel or whatever they're doing.”

Previously, orchards have relied on seasonal RSE workers for backpackers.

But Simon Webb believes that’s all changed since the pandemic.

“We lost our backpackers during Covid, and it made the growers think about what is a steady source [of workers] so you're not relying on one source of labour,” he said.

Another local, 18-year-old Billy Wilson, said picking raspberries was a chance to “get some money for next year, go and study, it's a good group of people to work with.”

Summerfruits NZ chairperson Trudi Webb is overjoyed with the interest in Central Otago this year.

“It is the fun thing to do to come and pick cherries in Cromwell… growers have been really good at investing in accommodation and things like that, so that's helped with the young people to come to central as well.”

Orchardists need plenty of help in the coming weeks, and while there are more workers than work to go around, they are still working through the waitlists.

Rachel Ois told 1News: "Lots of previous workers have obviously told their friends, their family to come and work for us ... they're now bringing cousins, aunties, additional family members, which is great.”