Can the berry industry avert a labour crisis?Affordability and supply both at risk without sufficient seasonal workforce

摘要

Failure to secure sufficient supply of seasonal labour would not only cripple Britain's thriving soft-fruit industry but would hit affordability and availability of a healthy everyday food, according to a recent report by agricultural consultancy Andersons Midlands for industry body British Summer Fruits (BSF).The Impact ofBrexit on the UK Soft Fruit Industry warns that a failure to enable adequate recruitment to the sector "would have very significant implications for the UK consumer", for whom soft fruit now accounts for 22 per cent of all fruit purchases. Lower production and fewer businesses would mean "a significant reduction in UK self-sufficiency in a highly perishable product which, both economically and environmentally, should be produced as close to the point of consumption as possible", it says.