Darlings Fruit and RSE
Fruit producers and workers alike harvest benefits of the RSE scheme
With the 2026 apple harvest underway, Rural Delivery revisits Darlings Fruit orchards and packhouse in Central Otago. In 2021, Stephen Darling was struggling to find workers to harvest and pack fruit due to the COVID lockdown. We take a look at how different it is this season. With open borders, and Darlings’ reputation as great employers, they have once again attracted a solid team of workers, both domestic and those from abroad. Most significantly, workers from the Pacific region have returned, with the Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) scheme having proven benefits for growers and workers alike.
The small inland Otago village of Ettrick (permanent population fewer than 200) was founded by Scottish settlers in the 1860s, most drawn by the promise of gold. Today it is fruit and farming that are central to Ettrick, located about an hour south of Cromwell.
This is one of the first places in New Zealand where apple trees were planted and, appropriately, it is where the family owned and operated Darlings Fruit apple orchard is located. As well as apples, Darlings Fruit (started by parents Bill and Joyce in 1963) also grows, harvests and packs pears, cherries, apricots, peaches plums and nectarines in orchards across the Roxburgh region.
As a significant employer in the Ettrick/Teviot Vally area, along with the fulltime permanent staff employed, the company relies heavily on seasonal staff. This year there is a dedicated group totaling 44 workers hired from the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu under the RSE scheme, operated by Immigration New Zealand since 2007. Also, there are overseas visitors with working holiday visas, and New Zealanders keen to take advantage of casual summer fruit picking or packing jobs.
Having hired RSE workers almost from the start of the scheme, when he took on eight workers, Stephen Darling (who runs the apple orchard and packhouse) says they are now almost like family. “Most have been coming to us from the Solomons and Vanuatu and their outlying islands for many years. They know our orchards and homes like their own. Often now it’s the older experienced ones who are showing the younger ones the ropes, including the younger working holiday staff, many of whom have not worked on an orchard before.”
Along with harvesting and packing, the RSE scheme allows people from the Pacific islands to work in jobs that include planting, maintenance, pruning and thinning fruit.
RSE status is granted to employers meeting specific standards including being able to show a strong financial position, good employment practices, provide pastoral care, suitable accommodation and other onsite facilities, and meet requirements around health and safety. In any 11-month period workers under the scheme can stay and work for up to seven months, during which time the employer must guarantee paid employment.
The Darlings have a well organised process for recruiting RSE workers, including through word of mouth by their long-term RSE workers and the South Sea Evangelical Church in the Solomons.
To attract visitors with working holiday visas and Kiwis interested in a different work experience, job vacancies are promoted on a range of backpacker websites, as well as Darlings Fruit’s own website. The company also works with the Ministry of Social Development which refers suitable candidates.
Stephen says the company takes its reputation as a good employer seriously, including with dedicated accommodation onsite for a total of 76 workers, and information about where to go for grocery supplies and the like, and what to do in the area outside working hours.
Attractions include a popular swimming spot on the Clutha River called Pinder’s Pond that buzzes most summer evenings after the day’s work is done. Also highly popular is a Sunday celebration hosted by the Solomon Island work team at the orchard each season. Festivities start with an outdoor church service followed by a barbecue lunch and an afternoon cultural performance when workers entertain with traditional song and dances.
Along with seasonal staff, Darlings Fruit has a number of fulltime roles in ‘orchard husbandry’. “This is a mix of learning and understanding how trees grow, the application of water and nutrients, the pests and disease life cycles, and overall management,” says Stephen. He adds there are also roles for people with IT knowledge as Darlings Fruit moves towards using artificial intelligence in fruit growing, packing and marketing.
He describes this season (2026) as exciting and fulfilling – and a far cry from 2020-2021 when COVID restrictions closed borders preventing seasonal workers from entering the country. “The COVID lockdown was a major stress for us. Financially it has taken four years to recover from the losses we incurred when we simply did not have the labour force to prepare our fruit for harvest – and to pick and pack.
“It was also a huge personal strain on our permanent staff who had to try to get as much of our fruit grown and harvested as possible.” He adds the reality is that there are simply are not enough people in New Zealand available to do the orchard and packhouse work that the RSE – and backpacker – communities provide each season. “As well as providing us with essential seasonal workers, through the RSE scheme our Pacific island neighbours are able to earn much-needed incomes to support their families and communities back home.”