MILDURA-based labour provider MADEC says it is meeting grower demand ahead of this season’s grape and almond harvests.

Harvest services manager Gavin Krake said that while some growers continued to use contractors to meet labour demands, MADEC had been able to keep up with labour needs.

“We’ve been able to fill most of the vacancies that have been listed with us,” Mr Krake said.

“A number of table grape growers have gone through our seasonal worker programs and picked up workers from overseas, so a lot have maintained the status quo.

“The only change this year is that their contractors will have to be registered or have made an application for a labour hire licence.

“And if those contractors have applied for a licence that’s all and good – they are still allowed to operate while their application is pending.”

Mr Krake said there were about 4000 applications for harvest labour contractors waiting to be processed and next season could see an impact on the number of providers.

“Those that have been granted licences don’t seem to have been in the horticultural industry – they have been in cleaning and security and other industries,” he said.

“Maybe next season we might see the labour hire licensing have a bit more of an impact, but not this year.”

Mr Krake said that at least this year, growers would use MADEC to “top up” their labour needs.

“There doesn’t seem to be any issues from our point of view,” he said.

“Growers will use us as a top-up, but all those growers coming in requesting workers we’ve been able to supply enough to fill their needs.”

Mr Krake said much of the demand for workers so far this year was for the local almond harvest which is expected to start in the next week or so.