It has been reported that strawberry fields at the Langdon Manor Farm in rural Kent are bursting with ripe, juicy fruit but do not have the people to pick them. The picking season has started and soft fruit farmers across the UK are warning that their crop is already rotting in the fields and those supplies to local supermarkets may run short.

Alistair Brook who is the owner of the farm said that he traditionally relied on a large seasonal workforce from countries such as Poland and Lithuania to help pick his fruit but this year, many of the workers have stayed at home. He said that “If things don’t improve, we’ll not be able to harvest all our fruit, and if that continues across the whole economy, there will be food shortages,”

The industry body for British Summer Fruit has said that it believes that the problem is getting so bad that supermarkets will be forced to import strawberries from California. Does that means they will cost more?

Polish strawberry picker Patryk Ullrich says the work is less attractive. Patryk who is from Poland has been working in the strawberry tunnels of Kent for two years, but has said that the incentives are becoming increasingly less alluring. He said that At home our economy is getting better and better, the minimum wage has gone up and we have started building more,” he says. Many of my friends have decided to return to Poland because the wages are better over there.”

Since World War II, the government has awarded permits to seasonal workers, under the agreement that they return home after a certain number of months but this year, the government has allowed 16,250 workers from Bulgaria and Romania through the Seasonal Agricultural Workers’ Scheme and workers from these two countries are allowed to work for a maximum of six months in any seasonal agricultural job.

One worker who has been granted a work permit is Marina Georgieva from Bulgaria she said that “The amount I earn here on the farm in a week would take me four weeks to earn in Bulgaria,” At the end of this season, after I’ve bought some clothes, I hope to go home with £3,000 for six months’ work.”

At Langdon Manor Farm, it seems that the fate of this summer’s strawberries lies in the hands of workers in European countries who don’t seem keen to come and pick them.

What do you make of this?

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