New Zealanders living in Australia and other countries are being urged to go home and do their patriotic duty - picking and packing kiwi fruit for up to NZ$27 (A$25.20) per hour.
The come home call is being pitched as being in the national interest, with Covid restrictions having left fruit growers 6,000 people short of what is needed to harvest this year's crop.
If they're quick enough, they can help out sending New Zealand's first red kiwi fruit abroad - new variety, Zespri's RubyRed flavour is making its debut this year.
New Zealand's annual harvest began in Te Puke this week, a Bay of Plenty town known as the kiwi fruit capital for its hillside orchards teeming with fruit.
A woman is pictured buying kiwi fruit in a supermarket. New Zealand needs 6,000 more pickers and packers for this year's harvest
Harvesting will take roughly four months and kiwi fruit marketer Zespri is hopeful of a record haul.
Last year, 177 million kiwi fruit trays - or 5.3 billion pieces of fruit - were taken from trees, and this year, the forecast is for 190 million trays.
That's if they can find enough staff.
The workforce is usually comprised of around 60 per cent locals, 20 per cent Pacific workers and 20 per cent backpackers, but with border settings still tightly-controlled, the backpacking crowd isn't there.
New Zealand's tight labour market exacerbates the problem; unemployment is a staggering 3.2 per cent, meaning there are fewer Kiwis looking for work than usual.
New Zealand Kiwi fruit Growers Inc chief executive Colin Bond says they're appealing to Kiwis - whether at home or abroad - to make up the shortfall.
'We could be around 6,000 short because that's about the number of backpackers that we normally have,' Mr Bond told AAP.
Workers on a kiwi fruit orchard train young vines to grow over a canopy frame in Paengaroa, North Island, New Zealand, November 23, 2021
'Our challenge is how do we cover that gap? So we're going to try and attract more New Zealanders.'
Last month, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced a reopening strategy that begins with Kiwis based in Australia, who
