Farmers say backpacker visa pause will risk Australia's food security

Backpacker visa approval pause worries rural communities that rely on international workers In short: Rural communities are concerned they will lose an essential workforce as the federal government slows working holiday visa approvals. Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke confirmed the visas were being processed more slowly amid debate over the future of Australia's migration policy. What's next? Farmers and volunteer groups have urged Mr Burke to consider the importance of backpackers to rural industries. Farmers fear a federal government pause on working holiday visa approvals will rob them of an essential workforce and put Australia's food security at risk. Australia's Working Holiday Maker (WHM) program started in 1975 and is regarded as mutually beneficial for farmers, rural communities and overseas backpackers who get to travel the country and work along the way. The National Farmers Federation (NFF) estimates that backpackers make up about half of Australia's peak-harvest casual workforce and says any cuts are alarming. "[Backpackers] are essential to our industry and the food security of the nation,"horticulture spokesman Richard Shannon said. 'Rural people will suffer' Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke confirmed on Sunday that WHM visas were being processed "more slowly than they were previously". The government website for the WHM visas shows applications from 24 countries have been paused. The pause on visa approvals comes amid furious debate about the future of Australia's migration policy. Opposition Leader Angus Taylor has not guaranteed backpackers will be exempt from the Coalition's planned cuts to migration. But Nationals leader Matt Canavan has previously promised his party would not allow any changes, arguing working holiday-makers are crucial for rural communities. Backpackers in times of crisis Australian charity BlazeAid organises volunteers to clean up and rebuild farms and fences after fires, floods and cyclones. Backpackers make up a large proportion of the organisation's helpers. "I just worry that if this slowdown occurs, then our Australian society and particularly rural people will suffer," BlazeAid chief executive Melissa Jones said. "At our base camp in Euroa [in Victoria] at the moment, where we're working after the Longwood fires, [and] 75 per cent of those in camp are backpackers." Ms Jones said the benefit of having working holiday makers went "well beyond the fences that we rebuild." "They spend money in the local shops, they stay in the local communities, they create connections with people in towns," she said. "They're not buying our houses, they're not taking the space that we need. "They're actually very beneficial to our country, and it should stay that way." South Australian potato grower Terry Buckley said backpackers were also crucial to his business. "We usually have some backpackers when we're cutting our seed potatoes for planting and … when we're harvesting in autumn." Mr Buckley said, without them, he would have to buy more machinery. "There's a lot of machinery that's $1 million a piece now, so that's all got to be recouped somehow," he said. Pacific workers 'not a substitute' When confirming the slowing of approvals, Mr Burke argued the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme was the "principal visa for the agriculture industry." But Mr Shannon said there was plenty of work for both PALM workers and backpackers. "They are not substitutes. They fill different roles and purposes, both in a very practical sense on farm but in terms of the sort of labour need they meet," he said. Australia's largest grower of Kensington Pride and R2E2 mangoes, Manbulloo in the Northern Territory, uses PALM workers as well as backpackers. "A base level of seasonal workers comes from the Pacific, but if we need additional people in the team, we employ backpackers," managing director Marie Piccone said. She said the PALM scheme was more expensive and took longer. "It's about 10 times the administration and a significantly more costly scheme than just employing Australians under the same rates and conditions, or employing backpackers," Ms Piccone said. "We need to have our workforce to get our mango crop off because that's the one time of the year where we get our income." 'Cost price squeeze' Farming groups, including BlazeAid, have written to Mr Burke urging him to consider the importance of backpackers. "I think that the ministers and the federal government have to understand that horticulture is in a cost price squeeze," Ms Piccone said. The NFF's Richard Shannon said the group would take "every step possible" to ensure the government considered the risk to food security. "And the upward pressure likely to come on the cost of fresh produce in supermarket aisles," he said. The government has been contacted for comment.