British strawberries in a jam over picker shortage
FAVERSHAM, UK: After weeks of uninterrupted sunshine the strawberry season is in full swing in the so-called Garden of England.
But with a shortage of seasonal labourers to pick the fruits, a trend exacerbated by Brexit, there are growing fears many may be left to rot on their stems.
“We will end up with a problem,” said Alastair Brooks, who runs a 60-hectare farm near the town of Faversham in the southern fruitgrowing county of Kent.
“The agencies that we use for recruiting are saying now that they are not going to be able to fill any vacancy after August.”His operation in Kent produces about 1,200 tonnes of strawberries and 400 tonnes of raspberries annually from April to November. “There’s definitely a tightening of the labour market,” added Brooks, 50, who employs 20 permanent and 180 seasonal workers.
“If you go back even to last year, there were four or five applicants for every job, and this year we have to chase people.
“We will see fruits left, not only in this farm, but across the country,” he predicted.
A recent study by British Summer Fruits, the biggest industry body, found three out of five soft fruit growers are struggling to recruit the 30,000 seasonal staff needed.
Around 95 per cent of the workers currently come from Eastern Europe.
“At the moment berry farms are typically between 10 and 15 per cent short of people,” its chairman Nick Marston said.