You have been picking cherries all summer in Western Canada and became addicted to it ? You just arrived as a backpacker in Australia on a working holiday visa and you are already planning on going fruit picking because your bank account is running low ? Or you are a professionnal fruit picker looking for a way to optimize your cherry season in Australia ? Here is a post for you.
Even if Australia is a small player of the world cherry production (the southern hemisphere is only representing 7% of the world production and Chile is harvesting most of it), they do grow sweet cherries and have gained a really good reputation regarding the quality of their production, allowing them to access several juicy export markets (including Hong Kong, Taiwan, China and Japan). It means that they need good quality pickers and that usually, they are ready to pay them fairly for their work (from what I have seen in Australia , cherry picking is almost exclusively paid on piecework).
In Australia, an experienced cherry picker should easily average 200-230$ per day, but it will require hard work, being able to be at the right spot at the right time and, above all, to be well-organized. So let’s explain more precisely how to plan your season and book your picking jobs in advance.
