Labour crisis pushes up vegetable pickers’ wages
AFARM in Lincolnshire is offering £30 an hour for people willing to help pick broccoli and cabbage – signalling the potential for wage rises across the farm labour sector, including here in the West.
T H Clements and Son has roles available for £240 a day, which is the equivalent of a £62,000 per year salary.
Applicants for jobs on farms in the Boston area are also being offered year-round work, instead of the usual seasonal picking jobs.
Farms and fresh produce companies are facing serious staffing shortages due to both the pandemic and Brexit, which, combined, have restricted the number of migrant workers they usually depend on to travel to the UK for work. Some farms in the South West have reported difficulties with the vegetable harvest this year.
The family-owned Lincolnshire firm, which also supplies Brussels sprouts and cauliflowers to major food suppliers and supermarkets, has been on a major recruitment drive to overcome the crisis.
In a post on social media, T H Clements said: “We are looking for field operatives to harvest our broccoli. Excellent piecework rates with potential to earn up to £30 per hour and all year-round work available.”
Pictures from the farm showed workers being treated to ice creams as they took a break from the fields. A comment said: “Another fun day in the sunshine at T H Clements. Ice creams all round – just one of the ways T H Clements makes sure every employee knows they are appreciated! Many thanks to Skinners Ice Cream.”
The Lincolnshire business is not the only one offering big pay rates to help with harvests.
Job website Indeed has said the number of recruiters that have boosted their salaries to help plug staff shortages is up by 75%.
Robert Newbery, regional director of the National Farmers’ Union, told the Daily Mirror: “Brexit is certainly having an impact.
“The people that could move freely within Europe before now can’t.”
The shortage of farm staff comes as people have been urged not to panic buy as the delivery chain to supermarket shelves creaks under the weight of staffing problems and a desperate lack of HGV lorry drivers.
The Government has urged people not to stockpile, after food production delays and fuel rationing fears rocked consumers.
There are queues at petrol stations and there continue to be shortages of some foods and products on supermarket shelves, with concerns over Christmas dinners.
Ranjit Singh Boparan, the owner of Bernard Matthews and the 2 Sisters Food Group – which has sites in the South West – has warned of serious fall-out.
He said: “There are less than 100 days left until Christmas and Bernard Matthews and my other poultry businesses are working harder than ever before to try and recruit people to maintain food supplies.
“Nothing has fundamentally changed since I spoke about the issue last July. In fact, I take no pleasure in pointing out that the gaps on the shelves I warned about then are getting bigger by the day,” he told Sky News.
Meanwhile, the Government has introduced temporary measures to allow more migrant workers to come to Britain to fill essential jobs.