Lots of veg growers packing up

[thesilentone]

It's not Brexit, it's covid. People just don't want to bend their backs these days. It is reckoned that around 900,000 people from the workforce have not returned to it since the first lockdown. They have retired or do cash in hand type stuff. Obviously a lot of foreign nationals have returned home. And to be honest, with the cost of living being as it is, I should think many would have gone just from that.

Fruit and veg have been too cheap for years anyway and the supermarkets take the shine out of the job. Too much waste, faffing and plastic involved and the general public are not without blame either as they don't select their veg and fruit any more so anything too large/too small or blemished is never viewed by them. I would hate to think what percentage of veg never leaves the field.

Nothing to big or small makes it to the shelf sadly, the ammount of waste in the vegetable supply chain is shocking.

 

[Lowland1]

Everything we produce for export will be packed in either bags or punnets none bigger than 250 grammes basically the right size to be tipped into a saucepan for a meal because of our labour availability and cost we can do this. Unfortunately it's what the customer wants. As previously stated they don't want to be trimming cabbages and cauliflower and they don't want to be using the same vegetable the next day another advantage we have is we can produce 365 days of the year which means when the UK isn't producing we are. But we aren't producing main crop carrots,sprouts or whole head broccoli so we aren't competing directly it's just times and demand alters. I will say we do produce good quality we most certainly don't grow rubbish.

 

[Cowcorn]

Brexit is not the cause but the effect it has had on labour supply has certainly made a very big difference. It was difficult to get labour before and now it is almost impossible, not good when you need a lot of labour.
Anyone saying it is to do with the level of pay is wrong, people just don't want hard work or want to work out in all weathers. Shortage of labour has nothing much to do with money, all industries are short of labour.
Supermarkets and their sharp practices are not to blame entirely but they have certainly played a major role in things. They have driven many greengrocers out of business so producers are left with one customer to supply, that is never good. Supermarkets policy of selling food as cheap as possible is a downward spiral, it is how we ended up with horse meat in our lasagne and we bloody well deserved it! As said earlier, if the supermarkets are not prepared to increase prices paid to suppliers then the suppliers are not going to supply forever. They have done the same to local butchers, local shops, petrol stations, milkman etc etc not just farmers.
Personally I am astounded it has taken this long for it to start to hit home. We as a farming family have been saying for decades it can't go on, in the end we decided not to. We were never Huntapac size but we did have 75 acres of spring cabbage at one time and we were producing over 10% of the UK rhubarb crop amongst other things.

Well said over here a biggish grower up the road has just completed his last crop of cabbage .
He couldnt convince the supermarkets to pay 10 cent head more for cabbage and given the rising cost of fuel , fert , and transport he felt it was time to get out before he lost the farm
And that decision was taken at the end of Jan before Vlad the Mad went on the rampage .
"Market Share is the root of all evil " over to you @delilah .

 

[Muddyroads]

Has Riverford got too big?

I think that depends on how you define too big. They can feel a bit “corporate” at times, but in fairness to them, they are supportive of smaller farms and recognise the benefits I described earlier.

 

[delilah]

Less retailers equals less processors equals less farmers. It's not rocket science.

Anyway, what do you lot care. There are plenty of farm shops and farmers markets, you will drive past at least one on your way to Tesco tomorrow.

 

[7610 super q]

Just a thought.......this post Blair business model relies on there always being " Poor " countries to supply folks to do menial jobs in " Rich " countries,. I presume, eventually, there will no longer be " Poor " countries to source workers from ? What then ?

 

[Nearly]

Just a thought.......this post Blair business model relies on there always being " Poor " countries to supply folks to do menial jobs in " Rich " countries,. I presume, eventually, there will no longer be " Poor " countries to source workers from ? What then ?

We'll be the country providing staff.
We're doomed!

 

[The Seeker]

This makes me laugh about governments and Boris's ag revolution. The big efficient veg guys are giving up yet government think that others are going to start up new enterprises to help feed the nation idiot's.

It’s ok the uk has a strong diverse progressive dynamic work force ready to take up the slack produced by brexit…. On no wait we have feckless people paid to do nothing and have as many kids as they can. God bless Boris

 

[Spud]

Got a letter in today, spud men looking for ground. Havent heard from them in 3 yrs.
With barley at £300, the rent is going to have to start with a 7

Per ha?

 

[Tarw Coch]

It’s ok the uk has a strong diverse progressive dynamic work force ready to take up the slack produced by brexit…. On no wait we have feckless people paid to do nothing and have as many kids as they can. God bless Boris

Not everyone in the country is like Borris

 

[Oldmacdonald]

Just a thought.......this post Blair business model relies on there always being " Poor " countries to supply folks to do menial jobs in " Rich " countries,. I presume, eventually, there will no longer be " Poor " countries to source workers from ? What then ?

Why is that only a post Blair business model?

 

[Ashtree]

Perhaps carrots and caulis can be trained to pick, wash, pack, and transport themselves to market.
After all, turnips and mushrooms, have managed to get themselves elected to Parliament.

 

[Hindsight]

Per ha?

Think you are being hopeful with per hectare!!

 

[Devil's advocate]

I seem to be the only person in the country that actually loves harvesting veg, I sometimes find this time of the year hard keeping up with planting, putting nets down, hoeing, spraying etc.

As a child I would be potato picking at age five in 1969, the full range of veg sor,t of 11 to 14 & started full time after completing A levels in 1983.

I've had bad years but mostly well paid & enjoyed it. Lucky to be involved in growing, small scale wholesale & retail. Rightly or wrongly stayed small & bought houses rather than rented more land, employed people & expanded.

If I had one gripe about supermarkets it would be the loss leader especially at Xmas. I'm not sure how it could be banned, but something needs to be done.

We also need more research to help us control insect pests.

 

[glasshouse]

Per ha?

No

 

[kiwi pom]

I seem to be the only person in the country that actually loves harvesting veg, I sometimes find this time of the year hard keeping up with planting, putting nets down, hoeing, spraying etc.

As a child I would be potato picking at age five in 1969, the full range of veg sor,t of 11 to 14 & started full time after completing A levels in 1983.

I've had bad years but mostly well paid & enjoyed it. Lucky to be involved in growing, small scale wholesale & retail. Rightly or wrongly stayed small & bought houses rather than rented more land, employed people & expanded.

If I had one gripe about supermarkets it would be the loss leader especially at Xmas. I'm not sure how it could be banned, but something needs to be done.

We also need more research to help us control insect pests.

I think perhaps you are one of a small group.
Much has been said about the lack of labour, the dominance of the supermarkets, the lack of buyers, and increasing food miles, which are all fair comments. I think there's another group too, a lack of smaller farmers willing to do the more complicated, risky, labour intensive jobs like veg.
More money will help but I don't see a large number of farmers rushing to do it. Other easier options are available to them, some of them don't even involve producing food.
If you can't even convince a large combinable cropping farmer to include a few sheep in the rotation, they're hardly going to grow a dozen different types of veg, for the local Thursday market. Where are all these small mixed farmers producing for locals going to come from?

 

[glasshouse]

I think perhaps you are one of a small group.
Much has been said about the lack of labour, the dominance of the supermarkets, the lack of buyers, and increasing food miles, which are all fair comments. I think there's another group too, a lack of smaller farmers willing to do the more complicated, risky, labour intensive jobs like veg.
More money will help but I don't see a large number of farmers rushing to do it. Other easier options are available to them, some of them don't even involve producing food.
If you can't even convince a large combinable cropping farmer to include a few sheep in the rotation, they're hardly going to grow a dozen different types of veg, for the local Thursday market. Where are all these small mixed farmers producing for locals going to come from?

No one wants financial suicide

 

[kiwi pom]

No one wants financial suicide

No they don't. The question is though would anyone want it if there was a living in it?


Some must be making a living now too.

 

[redsloe]

Straight off the boats and into the fields that should cut the number crossing down straight away.

I agree. It's a great idea until some judge from the EU says its illegal because it contravenes the human rights act or some such bullsh!t.

 

[Martin Holden]

It's not Brexit, it's covid. People just don't want to bend their backs these days. It is reckoned that around 900,000 people from the workforce have not returned to it since the first lockdown. They have retired or do cash in hand type stuff. Obviously a lot of foreign nationals have returned home. And to be honest, with the cost of living being as it is, I should think many would have gone just from that.

Fruit and veg have been too cheap for years anyway and the supermarkets take the shine out of the job. Too much waste, faffing and plastic involved and the general public are not without blame either as they don't select their veg and fruit any more so anything too large/too small or blemished is never viewed by them. I would hate to think what percentage of veg never leaves the field.

I would say that’s a reasonable view of what happened.