Are there jobs on your farm for pensioners if the rules get changed?

Centre Alliance MP Rebekha Sharkie called on the government to increase the income test threshold for pensioners, to allow them to earn more before their Centrelink benefits are docked.

"They're in their caravans right now, traveling through regional Australia and regional Australia needs them... and yet at the same time, we are making it incredibly difficult for pensioners to work," Ms Sharkie said.

"What I'm calling for is for us to allow pensioners to be able to work without losing 50 cents on the dollar of their Centrelink effectively as soon as they've done just one day's work."

The National Farmers' Federation president Fiona Simson supported the "sensible" motion and said there was a willing workforce of more than two million Australians who would love to drop in on farms to do a bit of work.

"We know that retired farmers are travelling around quite often, who love to help out fellow farmers or earn a little bit of money on the side, but at the moment it's punitive for them to do so," Ms Simson said.

"Any hands on deck are helpful and it's really critical that we do something about this."

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The federal government has been pushing its Pacific labour schemes, however there are plenty of smaller producers with only a few weeks worth of work, which doesn't justify the extensive process of bringing in an overseas worker

"There are plenty of smaller farmers that don't want to go through that process who have a variety of tasks," Ms Simson said.

"Many of our smaller producers actually advertise their roles online. It's just that there's nobody around to take those jobs, so this way people could opt in as they're travelling around for a couple of days work."

At the moment, pensioners can up to $300 a fortnight ($7800) before their benefits are affected.

NSW Riverina-based Peppin Planners director Rob Brown, of Deniliquin, said it would be "brilliant" for farmers if the government increased that amount.

"The shortage of farm labour really means that we're seeing more and more expressions of interest from clients about how they can do a deal with the next door neighbour who is now retired full time so everybody wins," Mr Brown said.