Fruit and veg labour shortage

[Rhiannon]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-40354331

As predicted. Soon we won't even be able to feed ourselves. Yay for Brexit.

[floo]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-40354331

As predicted. Soon we won't even be able to feed ourselves. Yay for Brexit.

Brexit is going to be very bad for the UK!

[Aruntraveller]

What we need are strong and stable vegetables.

Oh forgot, we've already got a government full of those.

[Walter]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-40354331

As predicted. Soon we won't even be able to feed ourselves. Yay for Brexit.

I'm in Lincolnshire at the moment and have been talking to some locals in the pub . They are waiting for the growers to start struggling with harvesting worker numbers, higher wages will be offered and at that point they will step in to fill the gap.
You'll pay more for your veg but you wont starve.

[Walter]

on the other hand a local farmer has just plowed back in a field full of veg because a supermarket has deemed them unsuitable because of their shape. SHOCKING!

[Harrowby Hall]

I agree, Walter, this is shocking - but I do note that, well, at least my local Tesco is selling misshapen produce at a reduced price. I thought that the message had got through to the supermarkets that they should not be so perfectionist.

[Rhiannon]

That's assuming higher wages can be afforded. The salad grower I know operates at such tight margins that she can't; she's paid by the supermarkets and can't demand higher prices in turn, she gets what she is given. I can support what you say, Walter, about 'misshapen veg' by the way - she's had a whole crop of lettuce rejected for not being aesthetic enough. Also agree with NS, Tesco seem to be addressing this with sales of lumpy carrots and so on.

The jam people in Essex will be hit by the pound as they export. So I doubt whether they can buy in more expensive labour. As they have said, it may well be cheaper just to import soft fruit.

What a mess.

[Nearly Sane]

That would be HH not NS, though flattered by the confusion

[Anchorman]

Problem isn't the wages - at least not in the fruit sector in Scotland. There just aren't enough locals to harvest the strawberries. Raspberries, blackberries etc. They depend on seasonal overseas workers. Without EU seasonal migrants, these buisnisesses will simply go under, and the poly tunnels will be replaced by yet more fields of oil seed rape - which is cheaper to grow and less labour intensive to harvest. This will send soft fruit prices through the roof! Brexit, eh?

[Rhiannon]

That would be HH not NS, though flattered by the confusion

Oh yes, sorry. Posting on my phone. 

[Rhiannon]

Problem isn't the wages - at least not in the fruit sector in Scotland. There just aren't enough locals to harvest the strawberries. Raspberries, blackberries etc. They depend on seasonal overseas workers. Without EU seasonal migrants, these buisnisesses will simply go under, and the poly tunnels will be replaced by yet more fields of oil seed rape - which is cheaper to grow and less labour intensive to harvest. This will send soft fruit prices through the roof! Brexit, eh?

Yes, that is the situation here. Low unemployment. Would it be fair to expect people to move to the area from places of high unemployment for the picking season like my family used to go to Kent for hop picking? I doubt anyone would support that these days. So migrant labour is the only option, and one the Govt is not supporting, presumably because of the right wing press' agenda against migrant labour.

[Walter]

I agree, Walter, this is shocking - but I do note that, well, at least my local Tesco is selling misshapen produce at a reduced price. I thought that the message had got through to the supermarkets that they should not be so perfectionist.

I now make a point of seeking out misshapen F & V in supermarkets if they have 'em
Yesterday I bought strawberries from Tesco at about 25% less cost for 400 g and guess how the tasted!

[Harrowby Hall]

The Vale of Evesham is the largest asparagus growing area in Europe, and Vale of Evesham Asparagus has just been given "area of origin" protection by the EU. The harvest of asparagus tips is quite arduous and is performed mainly by immigrant labour. The town of Evesham has a large Polish population.

It is ironic that this particular product has been given EU protection just at the time that the UK is hell-bent on Brexit - to satisfy Mrs May's ambition to tuen The UK into the Venezuela of Europe ...