Pick of the crop

A group of Vanuatans that picked a record apple crop at a Drouin orchard this year have finally got to return home after they were forced to remain in Australia for 18 months due to the COVID pandemic.

The party was due to complete quarantine in Vanuata last week before reconnecting with their families.

They had been prevented from returning home after last year’s harvest due to a combination of a lack of flights and restrictions in their home country of just over 300,000 people that registered its first case of COVID in November 2020.

Brad Fankhauser of Fankhauser Apples said the Vanuatans had been “a life saver” for the business that for the past two picking seasons was unable to engage backpackers from Europe due to COVID.

This year, despite only about half of the normal workforce, a record 2000 tonnes of apples were picked.

The orchard initially employed 18 workers from the Pacific Ocean country but three had returned home earlier while the rest didn’t leave until the middle of this month.

Mr Fankhauser said he was unsure what impact COVID would have for next season’s harvest.

However, he said he was reasonably optimistic that the Victorian government would announce plans that would enable workers from the Pacific region to assist primary producers.