And on occasions when he gets the boules set out for a game, the eyes of the French backpackers "light up".

But Mr Godwill, a fruit grower for decades, is worried that the current political stoush over backpacker tax rates and the resulting uncertainty in agriculture will dim the 2016-17 season for Australia's fruit growers.

"Clearly it's going to be harder to find people to harvest what is a perishable crop. So we're going to have fruit swinging on the trees and not enough people here to take it off," he says.

Mr Godwill, who is the chairman of Fruit Growers Victoria, grows peaches, pears and apples at Kialla East and relies on a backpacker labour force of about eight to 10 people at the season's peak.

He's confident that he'll secure enough backpackers because he only needs up to 10, but he is worried about the bigger growers, some of whom employ scores of pickers.

"I know for a fact that the industry is going to go begging and there's going to be fruit wasting on the trees. I also fear that a lot of people are going to be forced into using dodgy contractors, because they're just going to have to do whatever they have to do to get their crop off. What the government has done is created very fertile ground for those dodgy contractors – and that is going to be very bad for the whole industry," he says.

While the harvest on Mr Godwill's orchard won't commence until January, farmers have observed fewer backpackers in the Goulburn Valley looking for work than at the same time in other years, he says.

"This is the single most devastating issue or damaging issue that fruit growers are facing at present. This is far more significant than fruit-fly or water issues," he says.

Gary Godwill: "Clearly it's going to be harder to find people to harvest what is a perishable crop." Photo: Jason South

Farmers are frustrated that the impasse over the tax treatment of backpackers remains unresolved as their crops ripen.

From January 1, 2017 the Coalition wants a tax rate on working holiday makers of 19 per cent on all income earned up to $37,000. Annual income above this would be taxed at ordinary marginal tax rates. The Coalition also wants to increase the superannuation tax on departing backpackers to 95 per cent.

The federal opposition wants backpackers to face an income tax rate of 10.5 per cent from the first dollar earned up to $37,000. Earnings above this would be taxed at ordinary marginal tax rates. Labor supports the increased superannuation tax on departing backpackers.

If the political stalemate isn't resolved by the end of next week, the last sitting week of 2016, from January 1 backpackers will commence paying tax on the first dollar of income they earn at 32.5 cents in the dollar.

This would effectively be a hike on the current tax treatment of many backpackers. Now, because many backpackers report that they are Australian residents for tax purposes, they receive the benefit of the $18,200 tax-free threshold, and then pay a tax rate of 19 per cent on every dollar above it up to $37,000. However, according to a recent Senate committee report, the tax office "has identified that many WHMs (working holiday makers) are incorrectly assessing themselves as residents for tax purposes (and thereby avoiding the higher income tax rates)."

Emma Germano, vice president of the Victorian Farmers Federation's horticulture group, says the backpacker tax "saga" is making it harder for farmers to find workers in an industry that "already suffers a serious labour shortage", and is damaging industry confidence.

"There's one member of the VFF who said that he used to have about 60 backpackers rolling up per week looking for work, and now that's dropping to less than four or five," she says.

Sarah McKinnon from the National Farmers Federation says backpackers play an "absolutely vital" role on Australian farms. "On a national level they make up a quarter of our agricultural workforce, we can't do without them," she says.