Tipples, Rupert S.2018-09-282017-0697808647642702422-8869https://hdl.handle.net/10182/10271This Working Paper continues a series of articles published in Sociologia Ruralis in 1987, 1995, and 2007 reviewing the evolution of rural employment relations in New Zealand. It analyses research driven changes to public policy on the use of migrants to combat the ongoing labour shortages in New Zealand’s rural sector. There is a comparison contrasting the effects of these changes in the horticulture/viticulture sector and in the dairy farming sector. For the former a publicly acclaimed migration scheme resulted. For the latter an employer driven charter, which has been described as a ‘pledge wash’, was the outcome. Attention is drawn to the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 which it is argued may have far more significant effects on dairy farming than employers have appreciated. It concludes by revisiting four key questions posed back in 1995 looking at them again after a further twenty years.1-31enThis information may be copied or reproduced electronically and distributed to others without restriction, provided the Faculty of Agribusiness & Commerce, Lincoln University is acknowledged as the source of information. Under no circumstances may a charge be made for this information without the express permission of the Faculty of Agribusiness & Commerce, Lincoln University, New Zealand.agriculturehorticulturedairyfarmingemployersemployeesrelationsmigrantsworkersNew ZealandWorking PaperANZSRC::070106 Farm Management, Rural Management and AgribusinessANZSRC::150305 Human Resources Management