Vegetable producers in the UK are very tense due to the shortage of labor. They are finding it difficult to manage their vegetables and transport them effectively. Owing to the labor shortage, they have got no choice but to throw away their food.
Alfred G Pearce, one of the country’s biggest vegetable producers, is dealing with this issue. It says labor shortage is a major reason for their loss of thousands of pounds per week. However, due to the non-availability of laborers, they are only choosing to throw away food.
Alfred G Pearce is a vegetable producer based near King’s Lynn, Norfolk. It has seen a decline of the workforce by 20% to 30% over the last few years. Its business development manager Jack Pearce says both the Covid-19 pandemic and Brexit are responsible for this situation.
Freshlands Farm, a Ramsey, Cambridgeshire-based company, is another one that is facing this issue. Due to labor shortage, it has lost many thousands of pumpkins. In addition, it has failed to find workers to protect the fields from weeds.
Adverse Effect on Food Business
Mr. Pearce has said that Alfred G Pearce faces a lot of difficulty in its business activities due to labor shortages. As a result, it is not being able to produce goods and transport them on time.
The company spreads across its three sites and it grows many types of vegetables throughout the year. The total quantity includes 60,000 tones of carrots, sweet potato, onions, parsnips, and butternut squash.
Moreover, it ties up with big food distributors and supermarkets in the UK. On this subject, the Home Office has issued its clear statement. It has asked the food companies to focus on hiring domestic workers at their workplaces.
It added that if they can’t find migrant workers, then they should not wait. Instead, they should hire domestic workers at the earliest to save their food crops.
Mr. Pearce expresses this industry demands intense labor work and the failure to get a sufficient number of workers due to the covid-19 pandemic is halting the work severely. Moreover, structural problems have arisen due to Brexit.
Restriction on Work
Mr Pearce says the labor shortage has led to restrictions on work and has caused a business downturn. Moreover, he added lorries are ready to go, but there are no workers available to transport goods.
Chilled goods demand instant deliveries, but the labor shortage is a big hurdle in this context. Moreover, when such items reach the destination late, they get rejected and returned. So, food producers have to dump them, which increases their share of loss over each weekend.
