Blueberry pickers in the upper Clarence at Tabulam will benefit most from new planning laws adopted by Kyogle Council that will encourage temporary on-farm accommodation
The notion of offering hired hands a place to sleep is not new in agriculture but modern legalities tend to shun the Aussie donga.
Next year’s blueberry harvest at Mountain Blue’s 260ha farm on the Upper Clarence near Tabulam is expected to employ more than 1000 people.
The influx will transform the township’s economy with nearby Drake and Bonalbo to gain.
Kyogle Mayor Danielle Mulholland said: "Supporting rural businesses by ensuring a range of appropriate worker accommodation options are available is a key, practical way the Council can bolster and create jobs for the region.
"Council anticipates the amendment will encourage the development of more labour intensive agricultural ventures and better support existing operations."
Neighbouring Clarence Valley Council environment, planning and community director, Des Schroder, said the Valley was fortunate in that most of the blueberry crops and processing facilities were close to urban centres like Grafton.
“Because they’re close to towns we don’t think there are going to be too many problems providing accommodation for pickers and process workers,” he said.
“We are actively encouraging workers to stay in or close to towns so they can add to the economies there and our cultural diversity.
“We’re also aware of a few proposals to set up backpacker accommodation in Grafton.
“We haven’t seen those come through as development applications yet, but expect we will sometime soon.”
