Migrant Clampdown ‘Will Leave Fruit to Rot’
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Millions of pounds worth of strawberries, raspberries and other soft fruit is likely to go to waste this summer as farmers warn they will struggle to find anyone to pick it.
They are blaming new immigration rules that have slashed the numbers of seasonal agricultural workers allowed to enter the country by a third.
But many migrants are also being put off by the falling value of the pound, while their own countries’ economies are also taking off.
Britain’s soft fruit industry has grown at seven per cent per annum in recent years, and is now worth £220 million.
However, the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) fears that growth could be halted by a severe lack of labour, with fruit simply left to rot in the fields.
Last year an estimated £20 million of fruit and vegetables went unpicked, but this year the situation could be much worse, said Richard Hirst, chairman of the NFU.
He said: “If we have some hot weather and fruit and veg ripen more quickly, then there aren’t going to be enough people. When it’s ready you can’t just leave it in the fields.
“We are actually looking at it being much worse than last year.”
He said the labour shortage was affecting fruit, vegetable and flower farmers.
Mr Hirst blamed new rules which have reduced the number of workers allowed under the Seasonal Agricultural Workers’ Scheme (SAWS) from 25,000 a year in 2003 to 16,250.
The scheme has also been narrowed so that only citizens of Bulgaria and Romania can apply. Last year, 40 per cent of the allocated placements were for migrants from those two countries while 60 per cent were for non European Economic Area countries.
Mr Hirst said the SAWS scheme had run efficiently “for decades” and stated more than 99 per cent of workers, who tended to be students, returned home after the season.
He added: “The Home Office seems unable to distinguish between this type of recruitment and mass immigration.”
Many Eastern Europeans are also deciding to stay at home or work on the continent, attracted by the high value of the Euro.
Consequently specialist recruiters have thousands of vacancies.
Farmers launched a bid last week to temporarily extend the SAWS scheme for 5,000 more workers but it was rejected by the Border and Immigration Agency (BIA).
The SAWS reductions are part of a wider government bid to reduce immigration in response to fears that parts of the country, such as Boston in Lincolnshire, have struggled to cope with the rapid influx of the last few years.
The SAWS scheme is due to be phased out completely by 2010, which Mr Hirst warned would have a major impact on the horticultural industry.
He said: “We risk exporting a successful British industry abroad.”
A BIA spokesman said: “We are phasing out low skilled migration from outside the EU because we think businesses should hire those close to home first.
“Some people have told us our immigration reforms are too draconian, but we think they’re right for Britain.”
However, farmers do not believe enough British or EU citizens will be willing to work for the typical wage, which is often the minimum of £5.52 an hour.
(Posted on May 14, 2008)
Comments
“However, farmers do not believe enough British or EU citizens will be willing to work for the typical wage, which is often the minimum of £5.52 an hour.”
‘Farmers’ are worried about that, or Stephan Adams is worried about that?. Now acts of nature can be blamed on bad immigration policy. The only thing missing in this story was a tie-in to ‘global warming’. There must have been an awful temptation to try and work climate change in there somehow.
Posted by the brainwashing wore off me too at 6:54 PM on May 14
i know it’s a shocking idea, but you could always offer higher wages until you’re able to find employees. At some point (say double the current wages for arguments sake), Brits would be willing to pick these fruits themselves. Well this would cause the price to go up some say. True, now a more accurate (higher in this case) cost would be reflected in the price of the fruit that would be paid by those wishing to consume them. Of course previously the price only seemed low because it didn’t reflect the true cost of picking the fruit. The consumers of the fruit bore the cost of the immigrants wages (lower than the market would have otherwise dictated) while the public in general (think taxpayers) bore the rest of the cost of the immigrants (higher social services and infrastructure costs) even if they didn’t consume the fruit at all.
It’s a trick farmers (and other dishonest businessmen too)want to use in the U.S. all the time; socialize costs while keeping the profits private. Nonsense I say. Let the market work it out, but don’t import my children’s replacement so you can have a cheaper head of lettuce.
Posted by jamie at 7:35 PM on May 14
The Brits and the Americans better get those lazy bums off of welfare and make them work if they want to collect….end of problem!!
Posted by lydia at 9:13 PM on May 14
Wow, a British version of Steve Sailer’s “Pearanoia!”
Does the Big Business lobby ever show shame?
http://www.vdare.com/Sailer/061008_pearanoia.htm
Posted by at 9:53 PM on May 14
“They are blaming new immigration rules that have slashed the numbers of seasonal agricultural workers allowed to enter the country by a third.”
Hmmmm… didn’t the elites say the same thing in the USA? Gee… I wonder if maybe, just maybe, there exist global elite architects who set the agenda for all historically white nations: they craft the language, figure out how to defend immigrant invasions, determine the appropriate scare tactics such as name calling, etc.
Of course there are global puppet masters who are engineering all of this craziness we are seeing ONLY in white countries! The language is nearly identical (compare news stories from England, USA, Australia, New Zealand, etc), the politically correct tactics are identical, the accusations of “racism” and “xenophobia” are identical.
Posted by Mark Davidson at 9:59 PM on May 14
If they can’t find a way to harvest their crops without bringing in outside labor, it deserves to rot, just like right here in the good old US of A.
Posted by ice at 10:21 PM on May 14
I grew too many tomatoes in my garden last year. Many fell too the ground because I couldn’t eat them all.
Fewer immigrants picking food in Britain also means fewer mouths eating food in Britain.
Posted by at 10:28 PM on May 14
All that needs to be said about their gripes that not enough locals will do the work, is to look at the last few words of the article. Maybe they would find more locals if the wage was higher than 5.52 Pounds an hour. I lived in England, 5.52 is slave labor, of course no local wants to do it. I hear the same nonsense in the States.
Posted by at 12:52 AM on May 15
There were virtually no East European farm laborers working in Britain 20 years ago, but miraculuosly, I don’t remember stories of strawberries being rationed or fruit rotting in the fields.
Posted by Kenelm Digby at 6:44 AM on May 15
If it really is to the point of fruit rotting in the fields, the farmers should advertise for pick your own fruit, veggies, whatever. People will show up for fresh produce which they can store (at a fraction of the retail price) and the farmer will end up with something other than a field of rotten fruit or veggies.
Posted by Pick me at 10:28 AM on May 15
I watched the Asparagus crop rot in Holland a few years ago because the wonderful Socialist government would not allow the Poles in to pick them and the welfare receiving Moroccans could not possibly be expected to do actually work. After all, they have to pray 5 times a day at the mosque. The farm labor is absolutely essential to europe unless you want all the farms to close and import all our food.
Posted by Amsterdamsky at 12:17 PM on May 15
The average wage in the world is $3000 per year.
There are 100 people in the world waiting in line to do YOUR JOB at a fraction of what you are paid (fully qualified, on paper at least - which a brainwashed liberal might fall for).
At $3000 per year, all 80,000 jobs currently filled in the USA would suddenly be experiencing a ‘labor shortage’ of people unwilling to work at those wages.
1 billion Chinese and 1 billion Indians are lined up waiting to take 100% of the USA job market (all levels). And trators McCain, Hillary, and Obama can’t wait to try and sell out to them.
Posted by at 1:23 PM on May 15
Maybe if we paid people a decent wage to work, and STOPPED paying them to sit on their backsides watching daytime TV, this problem might just be solved.
Posted by Joe English at 3:30 PM on May 15
The value of currencies fall, inflation rises, housing markets take roller coaster rides, crime waves commense, credit lines dry up: eventually, somehow, someway, bad policies will reveal themselves as such - mass immigration is a bad policy, and it won’t go on forever before revealing itself as the failure it is. The only question then is: Is it too late to undo the damage?
Posted by Alan at 6:13 PM on May 17