A bumper crop of Hawke's Bay apples is being harvested early this year but there are fears a labour shortage could spoil things - leaving thousands of apples unpicked. We should be picking 1400 bins a day but we are picking only 1200 and that's purely because of the labour shortage. A spokesman for Scales, which owns Mr Apple brand orchards in Hawke's Bay, agreed that there was a shortage of workers but their operation had not been affected. Scales Corporation yesterday released its annual results showing the apple season last year was comparative to the record season experienced in 2016. Some of the long-term unemployed issues are not going to be resolved around temporary work around the fruit picking season."

Source: Otago Daily Times February 28, 2018 18:22 UTC