Kiwis for Irish farms
If two Irish farmers have their way, young Kiwis will be winging their way across the world to help fill yawning gaps in their country’s dairy farm labour pool.
Padrig Madden and John Brosnahan from Farm Relief Services were in Ashburton last night on a recruiting drive where they sold the dream of living, earning and learning in Ireland.
There’s already a well-worn path for young Irish workers to New Zealand, Madden said, and he’s keen to see the traffic become two-way.
“Coming here is not a hard sell for an Irish person, everyone knows someone who’s been here and had a great experience and we need to get some people coming back the other way,” Brosnahan said.
The need for farm staff in Ireland is now critical with the dairy industry opening up to expansion after many years of working within a quota system that kept herd sizes to an average of around 100 cows.
"The shackles are off and the only limiting factor now are access to land, access to processing and labour.
“There are 6000 people needed at all levels since the abolition of quotas for the next three years,” he said.
For young Kiwis accustomed to working on large dairy farms often corporately owned, working in Ireland would provide an opportunity to work on family owned farms where they would work on every farm related activity from calf rearing to milking, Brosnahan said.
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“We see that as a real selling point.”
The most recent exodus of Irish labour started in 2012 when unemployment ran at 15 per cent. Now the Irish economy is booming and unemployment is back down around 5 per cent, Madden said.
Farm Relief Services is a farmer owned organisation that has been in the business of finding farm staff for 40 years.
Farms where young Kiwis are placed are carefully chosen. Staff are met at the airport and transported to their workplace and then delivered back to the airport when their contract ends. That contract could be three or six months or longer.
The organisation is working with Matt Jones from NZ Dairy Careers and he aims to have 25 young Kiwis working on Irish farms early next year.
“It’s a buyers’ market for them. They can go wherever they want to go, whenever they want to go and for as long as they want to commit,” he said.
Wages are guaranteed and the hourly rate is between 10.50 Euro and 11.50 Euro an hour.
Once the first intake starts working in Ireland and information starts to flow back, Jones knows enthusiasm for the scheme will build.
Currently five young people have signed on for the scheme but interest is growing and Jones says he’s fielding inquiries from potential employees every day.
– By Sue Newman
– Photos Sue Newman / Design NZ Dairy Careers