The UK soft-fruit industry has again sounded the alarm over the labour shortfalls, which are set to hit hard this season.
Concerns that a shortage of seasonal workers could see UK fruit left unpicked have already been voiced by the trade, but the fears were reinforced at the Global Berry Congress in London last Thursday, where a UK grower and a labour provider vented their frustrations.
Demand for seasonal labour in the UK has increased by eight per cent a year for the last four years, with the soft-fruit sector accounting for a major proportion of this increase, while reliable labour has become harder to come by.
This year, a shortage of applicants from A8 nations, coupled with restrictions in the Seasonal Agricultural Workers’ Scheme (SAWS) to A2 countries has resulted in the shortages. The SAWS scheme is set to be phased out altogether by 2010.
Jimmy Davies from labour provider Fruitful Ltd said: “The main problem is that soft-fruit growers can’t find labour and when they do, they can’t keep them. The supply of labour has been reducing for quite a long time.
“The British public may have major concerns about the levels of immigration, but seasonal labour has little to do with this - however, it has not stopped those outside the industry from disapproving.
“Within the space of a couple of years, the UK sector is having its major source of labour phased out. I do not see a strawberry combine harvester on the horizon, so labour is key.”
He said the most practical answers to the problem include giving workers better opportunities to earn and more continuity, improvements in productivity, as well as offering attractive and enjoyable roles, all backed by government support.
Stephen Taylor, managing director at Winterwood Farms Ltd, claimed that even if the government increased the SAWS quota, it is still too late for this season. He said: “The focus now has to be on filling up the accommodation we have got, let alone worrying about the future.
“The situation is very serious and could see a decline or a reduction in the growth of the UK market.
“Long term, we need to find a mechanism for taking the quota out of the political arena.
“Wages this year will increase way beyond the inflationary level and there will be some distress for growers. Whatever the government does this year, it will too little too late. We need to continue to lobby the government because, at the moment, it doesn’t have a clue about the situation we are in.”
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