Chief executive of the peak industry body Brooke-Barnett said it was the most challenging jobs market in a decade for the state’s horticulture industry that employs about 20,000 South Australians, adding that businesses “are just making their shifts”.

“It’s a real challenge for industry, we can’t invest or grow when all of our businesses are focused on just getting the product out there,” he said.

“I would estimate, back of the envelope in talking to growers, we’ve got about 20 per cent less workers than we need, that means you are really pushing the workforce hard… you can’t focus on growth.”

He warned the problem could drive up the cost of fruit and vegetables, and he called for a longer-term effort to attract more ag graduates, along with an assessment of work visa regulations and skilled migration.

A perfect storm of COVID-related staffing issues, backpackers not being in South Australia for unskilled work, rising wages as businesses vie for workers and a lack of graduates choosing horticulture degrees, have created extensive challenges.

Even as issues like a return of backpackers ease, Brooke-Barnett said jobs were still not being filled.

“There’s a fight for skilled workers … right across the supply chain, we’re struggling to find agronomists and business managers,” he said.

“These are not low-paid jobs, we’re talking $150-$200,000 management jobs with a car and a house.”

The industry is working toward finding new employment models including whether more businesses could opt into the Commonwealth Seasonal Worker Programme and Pacific Labour Scheme.

South Australian wine growers and makers are also continuing to struggle with similar shortages in their $2.8 billion industry.

A new South Australian Wine Industry Association survey of members showed 79 per cent of respondents listed labour costs and worker availability in the top three issues for wine businesses over the next 12 months.

Chief executive Brian Smedley said there were vacancies right across the supply chain in cellars, vineyards, bottling lines and hospitality.

Concerned vineyard owners are already beginning to recruit for the next vintage that does not start until early next year and Smedley said it had not got easier now backpackers were returning to the state.

Regional areas in particular are struggling to find workers, with Smedley saying growth plans for businesses were on hold.

“We’ve got instances where people are turning away business because they don’t have the staff to provide for a cellar door function for example,” he said.

“The issue for us is we have vacancies throughout the industry, in the hospitality side COVID meant we had to close certain parts of our businesses (like cellar doors and function spaces) so staff moved to different occupations.”

South Australia accounts for almost 80 per cent of Australia’s premium wine production produced from some of the oldest vines in the world.

The state dominates the Australian wine industry with just under half of all Australian vineyards situated in South Australia.