The Muster
l TRADE & REVENUE
Backpacker safe havens Every year, more than 140,000 backpackers in Australia spend in excess of one billion dollars. But how is this important economic stream faring in the face of COVID-19? Words TONY BLACKIE Photography ANDRE GARCIA
T
hey come from everywhere – France, Portugal, Germany, England, Scotland, Ireland, Africa, the USA and all points in between. And without them rural Australia would be far worse off. Every year more than 140,000 backpackers travel throughout our country, working in regional towns and providing vital seasonal labour on farms. They spend in excess of $1 billion per annum and they help to grow our $60 billion plus agricultural sector. All in all, backpackers are important to farmers and townspeople alike – but things have been tough for them recently. The COVID-19 virus has left as many as 100,000 of these young people in limbo, unable to go home but with no jobs or local support. That is until a few farmers put their hands out to help. Throughout NSW, farmers have been providing young backpackers with food and lodging in exchange for farm work while they wait out the virus. Gerard Lawry and his partner Allysia Leverton, of Eaglerise in Mullengandra 50 kilometres from Albury in south-eastern Riverina, are two of these. They currently have five backpackers staying and working on the farm, and previously they had nine. “Our farming sector wouldn’t operate without the backpacker kids,” Allysa Leverton says. “We invite them here, they spend all their money here and they help to keep our farms going. It’s not good enough to just dump them.” Eaglerise Farm is a 100-hectare Agroecological-modelled, multi-enterprise farm growing food for local communities. When Gerard isn’t farming he’s a lecturer in agriculture, organic farming and agroecology at a university near Albury.
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THE FARMER
JULY - AUG 2020
