The majority of farmers in the UK take great pride in the variety of crops they are capable of producing. This is not done without a lot of hard work and endurance. Finally, they get to the point where they are ready to harvest. Under normal circumstances this should merely be part of the farming process, but, recently many farmers are facing new challenges in this area.
Manpower Shortage
According to a recent article in the BBC there is a concern about European Pickers shunning Britain. So in reality, it is technically not a shortage of workers. But, rather a shortage of willing workers. It comes down to seasonal workers not making themselves available for the tasks at hand.
The Repercussions
This type of situation comes with some serious repercussions. For some crop farmers, it meant a portion of their crops will be left unharvested with nothing else to do but let them wither away. This creates a terrible waste of food, not to mention a potentially significant financial loss for those farmers who found themselves in this predicament.
The Cause
About 99% of the workers that normally would contribute to the harvesting come from Eastern Europe. The agencies responsible for lining up the pickers with the farmers is falling dramatically short of being able to meet the quota needed for the supply and demand of the farmers.
One of the causes is simply the pickers do not want to be uprooted from their home, even temporarily, and have to travel such a long distance to work. The other cause is that the economy of the homelands for many of the pickers is beginning to flourish which means not as many workers have to leave home to find work.