Fruit-picking, a ticket to freedom

Cobram resident David Barry has been picking fruit on and off for about 20 years both in Australia and Europe. He and his wife Nuria Fargas have just returned to the northern Victorian town after spending the winter in Bowen, Queensland, where they picked tomatoes.

They're now gearing up for the summer season of fruit-picking in Cobram, where they'll be working in the orchards of fruitgrower R. J. Cornish.

The couple met while fruit-picking about five years ago. Ms Fargas, 32, who is from Barcelona, came to Australia as a backpacker. She ended up staying and marrying Mr Barry.

The 41-year-old, who previously worked as a builder's labourer and a barman, says that while he doesn't always "enjoy" the work - lugging 25-kilogram bags of fruit up and down ladders in high temperatures can be hard yakka - he loves the freedom of the lifestyle that comes with it. Not to mention the constancy of the work.

"There's always a job there in the season," he says. "It's such an easy job to walk into. It's a good way to make a bit of money and travel."

The pair are among a couple of thousand fruit-pickers who will be picking in the Cobram area over the peak summer season.

Doug McKean, office manager and the person in charge of seasonal fruit-pickers at R. J. Cornish, which grows peaches, pears, apples and lemons, says the company employs 450 to 500 people over the harvest period - the peak season runs from late January until early April - with up to 180 people required on a single day.

Most don't stay for the whole season and, increasingly, the fruit-picking workforce is made up of backpackers from countries such as the UK, France and Korea, many of whom have applied for the job via the company's website.

"I would say 60 per cent of the workforce would be overseas backpackers," says Mr McKean.

Others include grey nomads and those who, like Mr Barry and Ms Fargas, work full-time following the harvest circuit throughout the year.

Fruit-pickers are generally paid depending on what they pick, and while initial pay is equivalent to an award wage in the horticultural industry, after they become proficient at the job, they can earn well in excess of that.

While some pickers are employed directly by the growers, others find work through employment agencies.

John Boode, who works for employment agency CVGT, is the harvest labour officer for the Cobram area.

He says recent changes to federal legislation - which allows backpackers to extend their working visas for a second year if they work for three months in seasonal work in a specified rural area - is encouraging more backpackers into the work - and seeing more of them returning for a second season.

"The growers and the orchardists love it - training is down and staff turnover is down," he says.

"Typically in this industry you might want a labour force of 150 but have 600 or 700 go through the orchard staying a couple of weeks just for a few hundred dollars to keep moving. But (now) they tend to be staying."

"Gun" pickers Mark and Claire Walsh have been working the harvest trail together full-time for the past five years.

Mr Walsh, 42, a former hotel manager in country Queensland who has been fruit-picking since 1996 - is attracted by the different lifestyle it offered.

The couple, who met while "cotton chipping" in central Queensland, have spent the past five seasons in Cobram. This year, however, they're working in Devonport, Tasmania, initially thinning apples.

Mr Walsh has made his best money picking mandarins and rates olives as the worst fruit to harvest. He says while the job is physical, a good mental attitude is key.

"We've found that it's 90 per cent mental and 10 per cent physical," he says. "You get into a repetitive-type thing... so you've really got to be mentally capable of being out there withstanding flies, heat or cold and mentally you've got to be tough to do it."

Contacts: www.cvgt.com.au  www.rjcornish.com

Published: 06 December 2006