UK tomatoes usually arrive on the nation’s supermarket shelves in 24 hours. However, this year there are neither enough seasonal workers to staff the production line or enough HGV drivers to transport them.
Group Development Director of APS Phil Pearson: “It’s horrendous. Next year we will have to cut back our glasshouse growing by the equivalent of hundreds of football pitches.”
“We usually describe this period as the golden trading period,” he continued. “This year we’re going to run out. Local people don’t want to work in the sector and any rise in wages will need to be passed on to the consumer. There’s such a huge volume that’s being wasted. It makes you want to cry.”
According to a July NFU report, one in three seasonal worker vacancies were empty this year.
Source: fpcfreshtalkdaily.co.uk