Labour Campaign Saves the Strawberry Harvest

Article by: Hari Yellina (Orchard Tech)

The strawberry sector in Queensland has reflected on the success of its innovative campaign, which tremendously helped secure workers for the upcoming season in 2021. Currently, strawberry pickers can earn up to $100,000 tax-free under the industry’s PickPackWin programme. Hundreds of people rapidly registered their information as the promotional registration link opened in early April. The technology distributed employment applications to the participating farms that the worker had chosen automatically. More than 5500 people had registered to participate by the end of the promotion in early October, with 2500 of them going on to work on the 31 participating farms across Queensland’s winter strawberry growing districts.

By the end of the promotion in early October, more than 5500 people had enrolled, with 2500 of them going on to work on the 31 participating farms across Queensland’s winter strawberry farming zones. QSGA marketing manager Jane Richter presented the proposal to the table and obtained approval from the association management team, using a promotional tactic generally seen in the realm of consumer products or services. The campaign was designed to award bonus entry points for employee behaviour that would help producers plan and manage their personnel throughout the season. Early sign-on bonuses were given to anybody who registered and applied for work before the end of May, but the highest awards were given to encourage loyalty to a single farm.

People may believe that picking and packing strawberries are straightforward, but selecting only the ripe and ready berries on any given day and packing the correct weight of berries into each punnet without injuring the delicate fruit requires a great deal of talent. Many of the participating farms said that they were able to manage their labour this season in ways that no one could have predicted in March. Several farms have also stated that the campaign has enticed several brilliant locals to try their hand at farm labour; those who would never have considered it before.