Last week a NSW public health order specifically excluded agricultural workers from Shepparton and Bendigo because of the COVID-19 infections in the municipalities.
State Member for Shepparton Suzanna Sheed expressed concern that the high level of agricultural activity requiring cross border travel was being interrupted.
She said she was in regular contract with the Victorian Government, which was taking up the issue with NSW authorities.
The United States-based company Agriculture Capital Management is harvesting citrus on a 200 ha property near Berrigan and trying to build an irrigated orchard on 420 ha north of Barooga.
The company's export packing shed is on the Victorian side of the border in Cobram.
Harvest labour travels across the Murray River, and contractors working on installing 1500 km of irrigation drip tape also come from Victoria.
Company senior regional associate Andrew Mann said the border restrictions due to COVID-19 were causing some frustration.
“We just don't know from week to week what's happening because the rules keep changing,” he said.
Mr Mann lives in Shepparton and has a permit to cross into NSW, but that permit expires this week and he is concerned about what will happen in the future.
A spokesman for Victorian Agriculture Minister Jaclyn Symes said the minister had raised the issue with her NSW counterpart and was hoping to see the restriction amended, particularly in light of the stabilising case numbers in the Shepparton region.
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