ROBOT PICKERS COULD BE FUTURE FOR OUR FARMS, SAYS RISHI

ROBOTS could harvest farms’ vegetables to help tackle a shortage of labour, Rishi Sunak said yesterday.

The Prime Minister revealed a company is “investing in research and development in producing robots for the automated picking of asparaguses and courgettes”.

During an interview in the Downing Street garden, he added: “That technology is not there today.

“That’s why we’re investing as a government in subsidising the research and the commercialisation of those types of technologies and providing grants to farmers who are interested in increasing productivity.” The PM said farmers would also benefit from the UK joining the CPPTPP, a huge trade bloc in the Indo-Pacific which the Government hails as the biggest trade deal since Brexit. Mr Sunak said: “The only trade deal that we’ve signed since I’ve been Prime Minister is CPPTPP. It’s something we should all be quite excited about. “We’re the first non-Pacific nation to join this trade deal of multiple countries.” Mr Sunak described it as “an incredibly exciting opportunity for British farmers, British shoppers and British businesses”.

He added: “The comments coming back from the farming community when I did sign that deal was the trade secretary did a great job. They recognised we had engaged with them and we had protected their interests and were sensitive to it.”

The PM continued: “I represent a very rural constituency and this is personal to me in my home in North Yorkshire. I’m surrounded by farmers.

“It’s important for me to support them in what they do and I will keep delivering for them while I have this job.”