Shipping issues and a severe lack of workers are taking their toll on growers' mental health, HortNZ chief executive Nadine Tunley says. Photo / Supplied
Shipping issues and a severe lack of workers are taking their toll on growers' mental health, HortNZ chief executive Nadine Tunley says. Photo / Supplied
Traditionally horticulture can be a tough way to make a living, but the ongoing pressures of the pandemic have been particularly challenging, HortNZ chief executive Nadine Tunley says.
Shipping issues and a severe lack of workers are taking their toll on growers' mental health, Tunley told The Country's Jamie Mackay.
"It's very low and it is very concerning."
While nine to five workers went to the office, growers "live and breathe this every minute of every day," Tunley said.
"They don't leave their farms, they live on their orchards or their farms. So that is another level of stress for them."
Growers were a hardy bunch used to coping with unpredictable weather, but the pressure on the industry from Covid was unprecedented, Tunley said.
"Cherry growers are probably some of the most resilient people I've ever encountered. They can have one weather event overnight and lose tens of millions of dollars in crops.
"This time it's different. This has been ongoing. This is the third year we're going into and it is tough because of that longevity.
"I talked to the team the other day and we talked about running marathons. The gaps between the marathons we're having to run are getting shorter and shorter. It's just unsustainable."
Growers were rising to the occasion and there was a level of co-operation within the industry that Tunley had never seen before.
However, this was born of necessity as some growers were short of labour by up to 50 per cent, she said.
This, coupled with shipping issues, meant strategic decisions had to be made.
"What they're doing at the moment is trying to identify the high-value products and the ones that they can have some confidence that they can get to market because we have shipping logistic challenges as well."
The problems with shipping were "terrible", Tunley said.
"We've got examples where people are expecting to receive 23 containers in a week and they're getting one."
Even chartered vessels through partnerships with other entities were now out of reach, she said.
"One thing that we are seeing that has become a challenge for them is the cost of those charters has been put up at a level that is actually unsustainable and they can't afford those any longer."
It wasn't all bad news, however, as the industry was enjoying high prices and good prospects for premium products, and Tunley remained cautiously optimistic.
"It is okay at the moment, it's very early and hard to tell because again, these guys will sell these products through until December."
