Backpacker visa cuts spark fears of rotting crops

Key points

• Fears are growing that Australian produce could rot in fields if backpacker visa cuts go ahead. A federal agriculture department official told a Senate estimates hearing that no modelling had been done on the likely effect on harvests.
• Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke announced that second-year visa places will fall from 57,000 to 45,000, and third-year places from 31,000 to 5000. The Northern Territory government has warned that the Top End mango harvest could lose 1000 workers.
• The National Farmers Federation has urged the government to return to regular visa processing.