UK worker shortage: Farmers give fruit and veg away for free
Professor Tony Travers once said at a meeting I was at people would only truly understand the consequences of Brexit once the “rubber hit the road.” For some reason this story led me back to that fateful view. It tells us:
Farmers hit by a shortage of seasonal workers have resorted to giving produce away for free rather than seeing it left to rot.
York-based raspberry grower Richard Morritt threw his gates open to the public after failing to attract staff.
Others have done the same, and the National Farmers Union (NFU) has repeated calls for government help.
A government spokesperson said it was looking at ways to help the sector recruit more domestic labour.
Mr Morritt said in previous years the majority of his pickers came from eastern Europe.
In 2020, he had relied on furloughed workers and university students but this year he said “the shortage of labour has made it unviable”.
To stop the fruit going to waste he allowed members of the public to pick it for free.