There are machines available to pick almost everything. Companies in this country don't invest in machinery when they can use cheap labour and run on a less capital intensive model than other countries. Why this is is doubtless a complex issue. I expect that the tax, regulatory and access to capital are differeent.
150 Rumanians arrive for fruit and veg picking.
- Thread starter FrenchieBoy
- Start date
I am quite happy to pay more for food. At a rough guess food costs are only 15% of modern wages.
When I was young it was more like 40%.
Most people now seem to require more disposable income than they spend on food. Ok I don't buy meat but I'm happy to pay a lot more for British food particularly fruit and veg, let's go back to eating whatever is in season, we have glasshouse don't we.
Actually the Romanians have a relatively generous social security system.
FrenchieBoy
Well-Known Member
Again in reply to your post here is a photo that was taken when we were doing the fruit and veg work in Hereford. This was on a farm where there were around 100 acres of blackcurrants and another 100 acres or so of apples - My wife and I planted one of the apple orchards by hand one year, just the two of us. (We have a photo of that as well somewhere).
Yes this machine (Not one of the newer computerised ones) picked the blackcurrants but it took a crew of 6 to keep it going - One machine driver, two "sorters" on the back of the machine, two "loaders" on the trailer and one tractor driver/loader to ferry the full hoppers of blackcurrants back to the store rooms ready for collection.
Yes it was menial and boring work which meant a lot of twisting and bending for the two on the trailer (My wife is on the trailer with me with her back to us while I was taking the photo) but it was a job that needed to be done - It was either that or benefits and we chose not to live off the state!
the_greenman
Well-Known Member
So force them to do it? Whilst I agree that it system needs an overhaul and the
I stand corrected then. That would indicate then a desire to work and not a need. Something a lot of "unemployed" Brits could do with being instilled! Don't get me wrong, there are genuine reasons and there are also bloody lazy.
Asparagus for one. Lettuce grown under covers, rhubarb, spring cabbage, kale and a few more I am sure
Heym SR20
Well-Known Member
With the fruit and veg picking we are talking farms that are often well away from towns where the labour is. The labour is usually housed in caravans etc hours are long and it’s pretty tedious work.
yes there are machines that can do it, but you need to grow your fruit differently so that you get even ripening.
social distancing not that difficult. Separation in the field and working side by side rather than opposite each other. And they are put in the fresh air and mostly young and fit.
and have the labour living together so that the same household goes out to work and works together.
yes there are machines that can do it, but you need to grow your fruit differently so that you get even ripening.
social distancing not that difficult. Separation in the field and working side by side rather than opposite each other. And they are put in the fresh air and mostly young and fit.
and have the labour living together so that the same household goes out to work and works together.
I agree. There are bloody lazy there too. And they have to import foreign labour from the East to pick their crops too.
Heym SR20
Well-Known Member
In the good old days, summer fruit picking and potatoes where done by factory workers. Factory shutdowns for repair and maintenance was timed to concide with harvest, and the harvest was good money and treated as a holiday. And the 2 week half term in October is known as the tattie holiday.
Forcing people to do this work just is not on. I have done this type of work for farmers so I know a bit about what I am saying. No farmer wants people doing this type of work that do not want to. It requires dedication and precision for quality. It is repetitive and some would say boring but with the right people doing it the farmers get a quality produce to feed the country. With the wrong people doing it production would be low. Quality would be crap and the farmer would lose his contracts with the supermarkets. Whilst I sympathise with the sediments in your comments it would just not work
foxdropper
Well-Known Member
Correct me if I’m wrong but dosnt our current welfare system require those on benefits to have applied for x amount of jobs in a period to qualify for benefits .If so this would explain the huge application followed by the mass turn down of work due to lazybastarditis.
paul o'
Well-Known Member
1st , I'd say why was this not splashed all over the TV as a request by the NFU/Government for help from our British students/other ? I know we would jump at it in this house hold we would love at a chance for our son to get out and earn a few ££ , 2nd . we have thou's of fat Lazy blood suckers on the books its about time they were put to work for the free ride they have been given by the nanny state over the years ,3rd . importing pickers at a time is like allowing 150 posable more case's to be flown in to the UK ,as far as I know all they get is a temp check ??? have we not been told some will have it and pass it on without any signs ?? yet again the suits have missed the boat our fantastic farmers need help just as much as others ! So why can't the British public be requested to help out I just don't understand the why ? I bet there are villages on the same road that would step up if asked ? .
There was a program on the BBC over 10yrs ago.
The BBC paid for 28 of the farmers Polish workers to have a month off work.
A recruiting company got hold of 20 British workers. About 6 only lasted one day. Two lasted a month and only one carried on to work for the farmer afterwards.
The Polish workers had to come back or the farmers crops would be ruined.
If you're fit there is always a seasonal job on farms.
Whats going to happen post BREXIT??? The people that don't want foreigners will presumably work on Farms and yes, as a youngster in the 1960's I went potato picking for 3yrs
The BBC paid for 28 of the farmers Polish workers to have a month off work.
A recruiting company got hold of 20 British workers. About 6 only lasted one day. Two lasted a month and only one carried on to work for the farmer afterwards.
The Polish workers had to come back or the farmers crops would be ruined.
If you're fit there is always a seasonal job on farms.
Whats going to happen post BREXIT??? The people that don't want foreigners will presumably work on Farms and yes, as a youngster in the 1960's I went potato picking for 3yrs
the_greenman
Well-Known Member
Sorry you have read my comments wrong. I don't believe in forcing people to do this work. I'm all for having a harsher system in place for those who choose not to seek work. My initial comment above was cut short answering another post before finishing the one I started. I'm no social worker. I used to deal with the dregs of society tho. My outlook in life is you get what you earn unless you have a genuine reason. But that's another story.
The request for British workers (students, people on furlough, etc) was widely publicised.
Make it work, simples. F..k up, no money.
bluesako
Well-Known Member
simple grow it yourself, its not feckin rocket science,your stuck in the house all day looking at your phones,get off your arses, and, you would be supprised what you can grow, plant some veg, most of the feckin fruit and veg i see now on the shelves, ive never heard of, if you asked a kid nowdays where do apples come from they would probably say aldi bs .
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