The National Farmers’ Federation warns that pauses and delays in Working Holiday Maker visas are putting farms under pressure ahead of the winter grain crop and the summer season. President Hamish McIntyre says those workers fill about one in seven farm jobs nationally, especially at peak times.

The federation’s message, issued as Federal Parliament returned, calls for timely processing to be restored and for industry to be consulted before further changes. Farmers report that expected workers have not arrived and that workloads are falling on fewer people, with health and safety risks.

Australia is a major wheat exporter. The warning is about missing labour at the right moment, not a harvest already lost. The impact will depend on visa grants, processing speed, mechanisation and local recruitment.

The government is seeking to cut net migration after the post-reopening surge. Supporters cite pressure on housing and services. Business, including agriculture, says processing pauses hit farms, tourism and other seasonal sectors.

The NFF Horticulture Council has pointed to Home Affairs’ own published advice: new offshore applications may take several months, while previously advertised times were measured in days. For a harvest, several months means the next season, not an abstract administrative interval.

This account records the industry position and the visa framework. It does not present crop loss as a fact already realised.

Image: CSIRO, wheat harvest near Blyth, South Australia, 1986 / Wikimedia Commons. Not the 2026 crop. Cropped to 16:9.

Source consulted: National Farmers’ Federation — Farmers urge Government to lift backpacker pause; Department of Home Affairs — Working Holiday Maker program.