Soft fruit industry in crisis

Soft fruit growers in Angus and Perthshire are openly sharing images on social media of their crops rotting and wasting in the fields.

Yet retailers appear to be disinterested in the crisis their producers are facing, so long as it does not impact on supplies.

Marks & Spencer said “we are not affected by this” and Sainsbury’s declared “we have no current issues”. Morrisons and Tesco did not respond to queries.

Labour shortages mean many fruit producers are walking away from crops which still look edible, but Blairgowrie farmer Meg Marshall said the fruit would be rejected by supermarkets.

“You might send them down to Bristol and they might come back again at a massive cost to us, because by the time they get there they’ll be soft and someone will say, ‘No, we’re not accepting that’,” she said.

“I spoke to a grower yesterday who said he’d never let this situation happen again. In other words, he’s downsizing.”

Laurencekirk fruit farmer Ross Mitchell posted pictures of rotting strawberries and said he was actively trying to recruit new pickers to see him through the rest of the season.

“On paper we have another influx of pickers coming from Bulgaria and Romania – we hope they turn up,” he said.

Both Mr Mitchell and NFU Scotland’s horticulture chairman, James Porter, are continuing to lobby MPs on the need for a seasonal workers scheme, and politicians are lining up to visit several farms next week.

Some critics have suggested that rather than let fruit rot, farmers should allow pick your own, but Mrs Marshall said the organisation required to gear up for such an operation made it impractical.

“Possibly if you live near Kirkcaldy, Glenrothes or Dundee it would work but not if you’re 15 miles away from major populations,” she said.

“You have to manage it, put the signs up, have a car park and probably have swings for children.”

Farmer Meg Marshall said the organisation of pick your own fruit is impractical for many.