Australia: Dried fruit growers welcoming pay changes

Dried fruit growers say a change to how they are paid is an important win for farmers.
Sunbeam is going to pay its suppliers up to 20 days earlier than had been the case for the past two years. The Australian Dried Fruits Association's Peter Jones says the change will help growers facing cash-flow problems during the picking period.

He says it was a hard fight for growers to get the changes approved. "Years ago you'd be able to start picking and then when you deliver the first half of your crop that would pay for the picking of the second half of the crop", he said. "The last couple of years you had to finance the whole crop up front, which was very, very difficult for growers and especially this year where growers have gone out and bought some water on the marketplace to keep their vines alive, the cash is really stretched."


Source: abc.net.au

Publication date: 1/29/2008