The Press reports that soaring returns for milk will push the average New Zealand dairy farmer's earnings this year to $785,000 and has seen the number of dairy conversions continue to rise, means the industry is growing so quickly employment recruiters cannot keep up.

The director of Christchurch-based recruitment agency IPS, Hayden Creed, told The Press that the cry-out from farmers is "just dramatic".

He says farmers are constantly contacting them for milkers and general farm hands.

Mr Creed says IPS has brought 50 workers out from the Philippines to work on New Zealand dairy farms in the last year and is going back to recruit 200 more.

But Federated Farmers' Dairy said an extra 200 workers would be welcome but would be a drop in the ocean.

Source: National Business Review