Statement attributable to NFF Horticulture Council Executive Officer, Richard Shannon
Australia cannot keep growing its population and make cuts to the workforce that feeds it.
Australia’s peak body representing horticulture is warning that proposals to reduce migration numbers must recognise the critical role temporary migrant workers play in maintaining Australia’s food security and keeping fresh produce affordable.
More than one in four horticulture workers are temporary migrants, according to Jobs and Skills Australia, making horticulture the most migration-dependent sector in the nation’s food supply chain. Working Holiday Makers make up around half of the sector’s casual workforce during peak harvest periods.
Australia’s horticulture industry produced a record $19.5 billion worth of fruit, vegetables, nuts, turf and nursery products in 2024-25, with the vast majority grown for Australian consumers.
The link between migration policy and food security is too often overlooked.
Australians expect affordable, high-quality fresh food on supermarket shelves every day. That only happens because a seasonal workforce turns up in regional Australia when crops are ready to harvest.
You cannot separate the food we eat every day from the workforce that harvests it.
Blunt attempts to reduce migration numbers risk creating unintended consequences for growers, consumers and communities.
We would caution against reforms designed to move a headline figure that end up quietly dismantling the pipeline of workers our growers depend on. And reducing the number of experienced workers returning for a second or third year on farm flies in the face of the government’s agenda, and the nation’s own desperate economic need, to lift productivity.
In that context, we note Senator Hanson has confirmed that One Nation’s proposed cap is directed at permanent migration and would leave backpackers and seasonal workers outside its target. That is a sensible distinction, and one we would encourage all parties to recognise.
If growers can’t access workers when crops are ready to harvest, food production falls, costs increase and Australians pay more for fresh food.
The migration debate needs more nuance than simply focusing on a single number. Regional industries rely on temporary migrant workers to fill jobs that would otherwise remain vacant.
The Council is also urging caution about proposals to tie migration levels to housing approvals or construction targets.
Working Holiday Makers are a mobile, temporary workforce. They are picking fruit in regional Australia and often staying in on-farm or short-stay accommodation. They are not competing for family homes in outer-metropolitan suburbs and should not be treated as though they are.
Temporary migrants working in horticulture are helping keep food on Australians’ tables and helping keep cost-of-living pressures down, not driving them up.
The horticulture sector stands ready to work with governments, all sides of politics, unions and anyone else interested to get the settings right, on migration but also those levers that will get the right accommodation built in regions to support our workforce and food security as a nation.