A recent study found three out of five soft fruit growers are struggling to recruit the 30,000 seasonal staff needed. Image: AFP/Daniel Leal-Olivas
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 laborers to pick the fruits, a trend exacerbated by Brexit, there are growing fears many may be left to rot on their stems.
鈥淲e will end up with a problem,鈥� said Alastair Brooks, who runs a 60-hectare farm near the town of Faversham in the southern fruit-growing county of Kent.
鈥淭he agencies that we use for recruiting are saying now that they are not going to be able to fill any vacancy after August.鈥�
His operation in Kent produces about 1,200 tons of strawberries and 400 tons of raspberries annually from April to November.
鈥淭here鈥檚 definitely a tightening of the labor market,鈥� added Brooks, 50, who employs 20 permanent and 180 seasonal workers.
鈥淚f you go back even to last year, there were four or five applicants for every job, and this year we have to chase people.
鈥淲e will see fruits left, not only in this farm, but across the country,鈥� 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 percent of the workers currently come from Eastern Europe.
鈥淎t the moment berry farms are typically between 10 and 15 percent short of people,鈥� its chairman Nick Marston said.
鈥淕rowers say they expect that position to be worse next year.鈥�
鈥淩eally struggled鈥�
Soft fruit production in Britain has grown over the past 20 years by 131 percent聽鈥� largely as a result of an increase in home-grown strawberries.
The industry is now worth more than 拢1.2 billion ($1.6 billion; 1.4 billion euros).
The staff shortage is not restricted to fruits, with the entire horticultural sector buffeted by Brexit and improvements in labor markets in Eastern Europe.
As unemployment has fallen in Bulgaria and Romania, the number of people applying to work in England鈥檚 fields has dropped, with Britain鈥檚 impending departure from the European Union now amplifying the trend.
It has led to uncertainty over future immigration rules, while fears of encountering xenophobia and a weakened British currency聽鈥� giving less money to send home聽鈥� have also deterred arrivals.
Maria Parnic, 37, who has been working for Brook鈥檚 operation for seven years, said a hard Brexit would likely lead her and other Eastern Europeans to leave.
鈥淭hey say 鈥業 don鈥檛 go anymore in England, I go in Italy, I go in Germany,'鈥� she said foreign colleagues and neighbors tell her.
Stephanie Maurel, CEO of recruitment agency Concordia, confirmed it has 鈥渞eally struggled鈥� to find staff, starting from last year.
鈥�(It) has become even more difficult from May this year,鈥� she added, noting the firm usually brought over around 10,000 seasonal workers annually.
The labor squeeze is occurring despite workers being mostly paid at the national living wage of 拢7.83 ($10.34; 8.84 euros) an hour and some given airline tickets, housing support and productivity bonuses.
The prospect of British fruit pickers replacing them is remote, with the country close to full employment and those in search of jobs mainly in urban areas.
鈥淲e had two (British applicants) this year, in six months,鈥� said Maurel, adding there is 鈥渁bsolutely no appetite鈥� for the jobs. 鈥淚t鈥檚 really, really hard work.鈥�
鈥淣o business would invest鈥�
Producers are calling on the government to open the immigration system to more seasonal workers from countries outside the EU, as Germany, Spain, Portugal and Ireland have already done.
Maurel noted that Britain, whose citizens voted to leave the bloc partly to put a brake on European immigration, 鈥渋s ironically perhaps the only country to recruit only within the (EU).鈥�
Without government intervention, British Summer Fruits is warning the impact on the industry could be devastating.
鈥淥ur growers are investing millions of pounds every year in their businesses and actually they don鈥檛 know now whether they will have any seasonal staff,鈥� Marston warned.
鈥淣o business would invest under those circumstances,鈥� he said, adding a third had already decided to scale back investment, while others were looking at expanding in different countries.
A spokesman for the Department of Agriculture said it is working closely with the Home Office, which is in charge of immigration policy, 鈥渢o ensure the labor needs of the agriculture sector are met once we leave the EU.鈥�
鈥淲e are determined to get the best deal for the UK in our EU negotiations, not least for our world-leading food and farming industry which is a key part of our economic success.鈥�
But if foreign seasonal workers continue to ebb away, Marston predicts another scenario: Britain turns to imports of strawberries instead. CC
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