The apple industry is pleading for help as thousands of tonnes of fruit go to waste, devastating growers.

Due to a severe labour shortage, huge volumes of apples have been left on trees this season and the industry is predicting losses of more than $600 million to provincial economies.

Small orchardist and exporter Bruce Mitchell’s family has been in the industry for more than 50 years.

This season he left six blocks of royal gala apples on the trees due to a lack of pickers.

“It is so devastating to see the best gala apples I have grown just rot on the ground because we did not have anyone to pick them.

“I was desperate and did everything I could to find people to harvest the apples but on the day we started I was expecting 20 pickers and only two people turned up, so we physically could not pick 40 per cent of the gala crop.”

Mitchell is among hundreds of orchardists and exporters who have left export quality fruit on the trees or compromised quality with fruit not picked at the optimal time.

“We cannot continue to spend money on keeping our business alive without a guarantee of labour in the future. It is just not possible,” Mitchell said.

New Zealand Apples and Pears chief executive Alan Pollard said he was already aware of leases not being renewed, blocks being pulled out and not being replaced, and new tree orders being cancelled.

In November, the heads of several industry groups made a submission to the Government for the return of Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) workers to New Zealand.

The scheme usually allows 12,000 RSE workers into the country each year but that number had fallen to 7000 this year due to border closures.

The industry submission indicated potential direct losses of up to $1.1 billion and a labour deficit of 11,000 workers across horticulture and wine in March.

“Now that the harvest is at its peak these labour shortages are a reality and we are seeing devastating consequences for many growers and exporters, including a serious impact on mental health and resilience,” Pollard said.

“We cannot have a repeat of what has occurred this season. We estimate that we need at least 21 weeks from a government decision to the time that the workers need to be deployed, so there is real urgency to find a workable alternative solution.”

Organic apple grower and exporter John Bostock said Bostock New Zealand had “gone all out” and ran massive recruitment campaigns to try to recruit New Zealanders but the people just were not there.

Bostock said the impact endured this season had been foreseeable and avoidable, and the industry needed the Government to announce a plan for the return of RSE workers from Covid-free Pacific Island countries.

“We urgently need a plan for 2022 to avoid the carnage we have seen this season. With such low unemployment rates, there are not enough New Zealanders available for work.

“We have created tens of thousands of permanent fulltime jobs through the RSE scheme and without seasonal workers the fabric of our communities is at risk. We cannot continue to operate on a knife edge.”

ACT immigration spokesman Dr James McDowall said the lack of clarity for orchardists and the wider industry was taking a mental and economic toll on the sector, both in New Zealand and the Pacific Islands.

“Both groups are crying out for action. The Government was warned that its belief that local workers would replace RSE workers was unrealistic and so it proved to be.”

Growers urgently needed a plan for how many Pacific Island workers could come in and when.

“Orchard maintenance has suffered and decisions need to be made quickly or next season’s harvest will be negatively impacted, too.”

Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor said that having been a grower himself, he understood that small orchardists would be under extra stress due to the impacts of Covid-19.

The Ministry for Primary Industries was working with the industry on a wellbeing support package, with details to be released in the coming week.

Rural Support Trusts were able to help rural people during difficult times, and were free and confidential, he said.

The Government had allocated up to an additional $1.2m to the trusts in response to Covid-19 and the 2020 drought, on top of baseline funding of $656,400.