URGENT: 6,500 apple pickers needed

Six and a half thousand.

It’s the number of workers the apple and pear industry expects it will be short at the height of the Gala and Williams harvest this year.

The Williams Pears variety is the first to be picked at the end of the month.

Before picking of Gala and Williams varieties ramps up in early February.

To find out more about the situation facing growers rural editor Eddie Summerfield caught up with Apple and Pear Australia’s Head of Government Relations Jeremy Griffith:

Listen to the full interview above, and Subscribe to the National Rural News podcast: http://bit.ly/RuralNewsPodcast