Obtaining a visa for migrant staff needs to be simpler and quicker, a southern rural contractor says.
The Mitchell family runs rural contracting businesses Total Harvesting, Total Transport and Total Spraying on the Taieri.
Rebecca and Craig Mitchell were dairy farming on the Taieri when they and her brother Lyndon Newall bought machinery to make baleage from their farms.
Requests from other farmers to make them baleage launched contracting business M&N Baling Supplies.
When Mr Newall exited the business, the Mitchells bought him out and the business was rebranded Total Harvesting about 21 years ago.
As the business expanded, the family exited dairy farming, bought more machinery and employed more staff to provide more contracting services.
"We started doing the baleage, silage, then ground work and then we got into effluent and started doing muck spreading and then we got a hedge cutter," Mrs Mitchell said.
The business evolved so it could do every part of a job, removing the need to wait for another contractor to complete their part.
Jobs such as muck spreading and hedge cutting provided work in quieter times of the year so they could retain good staff by employing them for all of the year.
Now the business employed eight full-time staff through the year.
To prepare for the upcoming busy season, they had visas to hire three staff from Ireland and the United Kingdom to work from the start of October.
Many migrants worked the warmer months on both sides of the world each year, she said.
The busiest time of the year for the agricultural arm of the business was between October and February, when staff numbers increased to at least 15.
Staff needed to have experience operating heavy machinery, Mrs Mitchell said.
"When we start in October we are under way and we need someone who can operate a machine and be confident and competent."
Before hiring a migrant, a business needs to apply to New Zealand Immigration and pay a fee before the worker could be considered for a visa.
"You need to go through all this rigmarole to get accredited and it takes a very long time for them to do it."
Sometimes a busy season could be over before a work visa was approved.
The business started employing migrants after it bought its first forage harvester about 20 years ago and needed an experienced operator.
Obtaining a visa for migrants had got more challenging over time, Mrs Mitchell said.
"It was hard enough before Covid but since Covid it has got harder and harder and harder as they’ve changed the rules and the visas — it has got very complicated."
The information required was "over the top" especially since their business had proven for more than 20 years they had played by the rules and looked after their migrant staff without any issue.
"They need to stop making it so hard for all of the sectors, including the dairy farmers and the orchardists, where there is a recognised shortage of staff," she said.
Total Transport owner Bailey Mitchell, Mrs Mitchell’s son, said it was the busiest time of the year for the transport arm of the business due to work, such as transporting fertiliser, ramping up.
"People we work for are all struggling to find staff who want to work and learn," he said.
The Mitchell family offered to host the careers expo Taieri Rural Open Day in the Total Transport yard to support the community and link people with work in the rural sector.
Immigration New Zealand visa director Sarah Clifford said the the main temporary work visa in New Zealand was the Accredited Employer Work Visa scheme.
"It is designed to ensure New Zealanders are first in line for jobs and makes it easier for employers to hire skilled migrants where genuine skill or labour shortages exist. It also helps combat migrant exploitation by ensuring only employers who are accredited can hire migrant workers."
Further checks and policy changes were introduced in the scheme earlier this year which meant there were additional requirements for many applications, resulting in longer processing times.
"Incomplete applications are a significant factor in current processing times and all of the required information must be submitted with an application to help prevent further delays."
Ministry of Social Development southern regional commissioner Steph Voight said the ministry’s no1 priority was getting people into work.
The government had set a target to reduce the number of people on Jobseeker Support.
"Our message to employers is MSD has people on Jobseeker Support here in southern ready to work," she said.
About 80% of people receiving Jobseeker Support had been on benefit for less than a year and had previous work experience.
Of those people, about half had worked in moderate to highly skilled jobs.
The main challenges when seeking employment in the rural sector were a lack of experience, reliable transport and driver licences.
Jobseekers were encouraged to get the licences required and try to take any opportunity to obtain work experience.
The ministry could help with driver licences, connect jobseekers to rural training providers, highlight employment opportunities across the South and provide in-work support and training.
The open day was a good opportunity to showcase roles in the rural sector and the seasonal opportunities becoming available soon.
"There are a number of different sectors that work collaboratively to make the rural sector hum, from agriculture, to transport, to rural firefighters.
"We also want to create awareness around rural career pathways, to encourage people to explore their options with different training providers that can lead on to work opportunities."
Silver Fern Farms would exhibit at the open day, Ms Voight said.
"Silver Fern Farms don’t just have roles at the plant, they also have a great livestock programme where people can learn to be a livestock rep.
"Our local work brokers also have forestry and horticulture jobs on our books. Attendees can get a taste for some of these roles with our VR headsets and try out tractor driving or forestry work on a simulator."
The expo would highlight some emerging industries and technology, such as orchardists working on carbon zero initiatives, retractable roofs, bird-scaring and packhouse technologies.
"They feed into the logistics industries, which have been taking on more staff this year. People looking for jobs can have those sorts of conversations at the open day," she said.
• Taieri Rural Open Day: Total Transport Otago, 49 Dukes Rd South, Mosgiel between 11am and 2pm on Saturday.
Free bus rides to the event would be provided by the Otago Heritage Bus Society from 22 Factory Rd in Mosgiel every 30 minutes from 11am.
