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Farming Union slams Brexit & Covid for 'record' 34% fruit and vegetable picker shortage

The president of the National Farmers' Union, Minette Batters, claimed chaotic shortages of workers are leading to the carnage in Britain's food distribution networks as producers are thought to have binned an estimated "£16 billion" worth of food already in Britain. Food is sitting unpicked on British farms and not arriving on the shelves, it has been suggested.

Ms. Batters said: “You see 34 percent shortfall that is vacancies on-farm seasonal workers. It has never been that high before, it is absolutely huge."

“At the moment we rely on the dexterity of the human hand to pick strawberries, raspberries, cut asparagus, cut daffodils. That is where the problems have come from.”

She noted that, despite the shortages, Britain has for a long time remained “the most preferred” country to work in for employment seekers from overseas.

The Union President went on to highlight how, as a result of delays spurred on by the two issues, food wastage has rocketed in Britain.

Read the complete article at www.express.co.uk.

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