Picking Fruit and Veg on Farms

Redwurzel

Redwurzel

Well-known member
A veg grower (AS Green) near Malvern advertised in local papers a few weeks ago for 160 pickers and packers for their broccoli for this summer season. They had previously used Eastern European labour. They have so far received over 1000 British based applications which has surprised them. They offered £8.85/hour which is their normal rate for 2020.

OK virus has made more people available but to me it shows British people are willing to pick fruit and veg if the pay and conditions is acceptable and they know about the opportunities. Normally these jobs are not advertised locally as its assumed not many will apply.

Advert

https://www.herefordtimes.com/news/...rm-launches-appeal-160-local-pickers-packers/

Response

https://www.herefordtimes.com/news/...ted-local-applications-picking-packing-posts/
 
Bear - Could be 50%, but what about the other 500?

I filled out the form but was worried about having to work with lots of young people who possibly were not as concerned as me about 2m rules etc, so to me I would have applied in a normal year, but not this one.
 
It depends on the location - eg where there are no larger connurbations nearby and workers would need to relocate and spend a large part of their wage on (usually poor) accommodation. In Lincolnshire for instance they were really struggling for this reason.
 
I think the problem will be when they get there and actually have to do the job. I doubt the Facebook generation have done anything harder than ordering a pizza online.

I did tatty picking as a kid in the school holidays back when it was legal :D ffs not the sort of work for anyone not used to grafting.
 
I imagine the good weather will help with the appeal of the job... they may not be so happy come the bad weather we are bound to get...
 
Malaguena said:
Me too - bl00dy hell that was backbreaking work

Edit - that half term holiday from school in October was actually called tatty picking week wasn't it !
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I spent one summer, as a student, working the harvest on a farm on Blakestone Lane in Norton (long covered in houses). Absolutely back-breaking work.
 
Grape picking is nearly as bad except that it's a great experience if you don't mind sleeping rough, although the food makes up for it. I earned enough in two weeks to pay for cycling back from Bordeaux which took another two weeks. :rolleyes:
 
I was thinking Monday, Wednesday, Friday - to give me some recovery time between days if picking and cutting for 8 hours a day.

Some of the jobs in this advert are for packers opposed to pickers which is probably indoors.

The economics of using Eastern Europe labour was great for the farms 20 years ago, when people from EE were qing up to work for £3.50 per hour and the farms could get nearly half of this back with food and board charges. Now young people in EE can earn just as much in their own country as the UK and live at home. Job opportunities are much better in Eastern Europe and wages have risen much more quickly than here. A lot of the farms have established accommodation for younger pickers and it now suits them to take on people who need accommodation, hence recruiting overseas. but that might have to change.
 
That’s a good point on accommodation.
Lots of fruit and veg farms not far from me have a pretty good infrastructure with large numbers of portacabins, bespoke laundry facilities and common areas. They have built these up over the years to help those coming from abroad feel like part of a community.

The margins aren’t great for the finished product and these facilities all come at a cost.
 
I worked for Church farm in Norfolk (now the biggest in the sector) and close to Norwich. I called in two years ago to have a mosey around 30 years after I worked there, and although the camp had reduced in size there was a heavy eastern-european presence. When I worked there it was mostly european students, in fact it's where i met my better half.

The accommodation point is important in areas of greatest need, and given the industry needs 70,000 pickers, you're not going to fill that hole with UK workers who would have to upsticks for low-paid seasonal work.
 
If somewhere is say 30 miles from a large town/city I agree they will struggle to find hundreds of pickers. The farm in the article is about 10 miles from Worcester (pop 102,000) and 18 miles Hereford (pop 63,000).

In the last 5 years I think the farms are turning to Ukraine and Russian Federation and taking young people on 3 month visas. These young people will work for less than people from the EU.

I do think some of the producers are over looking local labour certainly if they are willing to pay £8.85 per hour to all staff who live off site and willing to employ people in monthly blocks.
 
With this 2 week quarantine period why can't the farmers hire those who work on their farms every year as usual?
The 2 week quarantine takes place in a separate area to the farm and then straight into work. Test all of them on arrival and of clear crack on. One of the better jobs about to stay in one place and still work from technically a temporary home.
 
Konrad_the_Barbarian said:
I think the problem will be when they get there and actually have to do the job. I doubt the Facebook generation have done anything harder than ordering a pizza online.

I did tatty picking as a kid in the school holidays back when it was legal :D ffs not the sort of work for anyone not used to grafting.
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The teens to mid 20’s are not the Facebook generation. In fact it is largely the older generations that use Facebook, hence the targeting by the brexit bots with their lies and propaganda and fake news.

We know now that people are more likely to believe something if it accords with what they want to be true. We know people share, post, retweet what they agree with.

Facebook users, a largely older demographic were SEVEN times more likely to spread fake news and lies about brexit and the EU. Think about that. The younger generations, supposedly not as wise as the older experienced generations, spotted b***ks far far better and/or were far less prejudiced.
 
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