Robinvale-based startup Agri Workforce Solutions doubles supply of skilled and dedicated farm workers ahead of harvest season

ROBINVALE, Victoria – AWS, the labour-hire company with a more than 80 percent retention rate, has more than doubled the number of skilled workers it can supply for the upcoming table-grape and almond harvest season in the Sunraysia region. 

The company, which was founded less than three years ago, now supplies a full range of seasonal workers – from mechanics to fruit pickers and packagers – to the finest farms in the region. 

AWS founder Tep Maradine credits the company’s growth to a business model that fuses the needs of farmers with the aspirations of workers, and is based on personal experience.

“My first job was picking table grapes for a labour-hire company and this experience is part of the foundation of AWS’s business model” he said.

“I learned very quickly that the companies that were best at matching the skillsets of individual workers with the particular needs of the farms they were placed at were the ones that retained staff and increased productivity at farms,” Mr. Tep added.

Since its founding in 2019, AWS has expanded its reach to seven farms and now has almost 130 skilled workers registered and ready to work.

Mr. Tep launched the company while working as a personal banker at ANZ’s Robinvale branch, where some of his clients were former employers of him and his parents who began working on farms within weeks of arriving in Australia from Cambodia in 1998.

Mr. Tep puts AWS’s swift growth down to hard work and his deep connections in his hometown, where he has also worked as a volunteer financial literacy coach to recent immigrants. 

“My career in banking gives me insight into the challenges faced by farmers, while my and my family’s experience working on farms gives me first-hand knowledge of the aspirations of workers,” he added. “At AWS we take great pride in exceeding the compliance standards for labour-hire companies, and this is one reason farms are eager to partner with us.”

As AWS approaches the third year of its launch it is expanding its workforce, geographical reach and services, which include providing farmers with taxation and financing solutions as well as financial literacy coaching and safe transport for workers. 

“Now we’re focusing on building a fleet of minivans to ensure workers have convenient and safe transport to and from farms. This will increase productivity and save time and money for both workers and the farms we place them on,” Mr. Tep said. 

contact: https://www.facebook.com/Agriworkforcesolutions 
https://www.linkedin.com/company/agri-work-force-solutions-pty-ltd/ 



Head Office

33 Herbert Street,

Robinvale, Victoria

3549 Australia

Email: accounts@agriwsolutions.com
website: https://agriwsolutions.com.au 

Tel: 0407513513