Australian farmers are being encouraged to bring in additional workers from the Pacific, as they grow increasingly worried their prized fruit and vegetable crops will be left to wither because of a shortage of European backpackers.
Figures from the Australian Department of Immigration show a dramatic fall in the number of foreign backpackers; with 34,000 fewer Working Holiday Visas issued last year than two years ago.
AUSVEG, the body which represents Australian vegetable and potato growers, blames a weakening Australian dollar and a poor reputation for the fall in foreign farm workers.
Source Migration Institute of Australia