Why won’t Brits pick vegetables for £30 an hour?

Weasel

Member
Location
in the hills
My late father did peace work on the forestry commission they had a range of jobs he said first week on a job you made nothing but basic second week you made a little bonus third week you made a wage you were happy with , 4th week they moved you onto something else as it was costing to much in wages 😂 , he described it as great fun/camaraderie but really was white slavery .

What was he doing with the forestry?
 

stewart

Member
Horticulture
Location
Bay of Plenty NZ
Because over the last 20+ years I`ve seen how unskilled migrants have dragged down wages and working conditions for British workers and how growers have exploited both migrant and British workers , unskilled migrants bring nothing to the party for anyone except the dodgy employers.

I`ve no issue with immigrants who turn up with savings in the bank , required qualifications and fluent in English.
Migrants cannot be blamed for poor working conditions, UK working conditions were never high even before migrants turned up to do the work that the Brits would not do. £30 per hour seems a reasonable wage, how high were they before if wages have been dragged down to this level?
 

Lincoln75

Member
Migrants cannot be blamed for poor working conditions, UK working conditions were never high even before migrants turned up to do the work that the Brits would not do. £30 per hour seems a reasonable wage, how high were they before if wages have been dragged down to this level?
You really believe people earn £30.00 ph picking veg ? :oops: , the problem is the migrants will put up with poor conditions and low pay as the pay is better than at home and they only do it for a few months/seasons and growers exploit this ,no self respecting British worker would put up with whats on offer as a full time job.
 

Muddyroads

Member
NFFN Member
Location
Exeter, Devon
You really believe people earn £30.00 ph picking veg ? :oops: , the problem is the migrants will put up with poor conditions and low pay as the pay is better than at home and they only do it for a few months/seasons and growers exploit this ,no self respecting British worker would put up with whats on offer as a full time job.
How many veg pickers do you employ? How much veg do you grow?
 

kiwi pom

Member
Location
canterbury NZ
Migrants cannot be blamed for poor working conditions, UK working conditions were never high even before migrants turned up to do the work that the Brits would not do. £30 per hour seems a reasonable wage, how high were they before if wages have been dragged down to this level?
30 quid an hour is a good wage. Its just a headline price though, like most piece work. The very top can get it some of the time. Someone that motivated could make more doing something else though, that something could also be fulltime, guaranteed hours.

I've nothing against bringing in seasonal workers, I just thing the line describing seasonal is getting a bit blurred. Dairy farmers claiming they want access to cheaper labour being one example, that's not seasonal, same with a lot of jobs, meatworkers, Ag contractors etc. Many of those jobs could/should be fulltime, in which case they should have to compete for labour like other industries and give staff job security.
 

Lincoln75

Member
30 quid an hour is a good wage. Its just a headline price though, like most piece work. The very top can get it some of the time. Someone that motivated could make more doing something else though, that something could also be fulltime, guaranteed hours.

I've nothing against bringing in seasonal workers, I just thing the line describing seasonal is getting a bit blurred. Dairy farmers claiming they want access to cheaper labour being one example, that's not seasonal, same with a lot of jobs, meatworkers, Ag contractors etc. Many of those jobs could/should be fulltime, in which case they should have to compete for labour like other industries and give staff job security.
The reality is the average pickers wage will be around £9.00 ph .
 

Lincoln75

Member
£10/hour for the hours that they want to work. They have consistently earned more than I have this year.
I’m 2 miles away from the local Amazon warehouse which is currently offering a £3000 sign up bonus, yet our small crew keep coming back.
So all those who have families get Tax Credits or they couldn't survive which means your business ( and thousands of others) is being subsidised by the tax payer , if you are on such a small salary why carry on? if its a business that's not paying , time to diversify or sell up dont you think ?
 

kiwi pom

Member
Location
canterbury NZ
Well as a current employer (not manager) of a small number of part time local British pickers, I’d appreciate it if you didn’t lump us all together being the same as the employer that you experienced.
Agreed, there's a big difference in what you are doing, local part time help, where everyone can be flexible and work together is great for you and great for those wanting some part time work.
Bigger units expand beyond what the locals can do and finding lots of individuals becomes very time consuming, which is how the big agencies get in the door. At that stage the few locals wanting flexible hours can't get hired because the agency brings in a gang of 'imports' that must all work the same hours.
Unfortunately the big farming companies have made life harder for smaller businesses like yourself.
 

Muddyroads

Member
NFFN Member
Location
Exeter, Devon
Agreed, there's a big difference in what you are doing, local part time help, where everyone can be flexible and work together is great for you and great for those wanting some part time work.
Bigger units expand beyond what the locals can do and finding lots of individuals becomes very time consuming, which is how the big agencies get in the door. At that stage the few locals wanting flexible hours can't get hired because the agency brings in a gang of 'imports' that must all work the same hours.
Unfortunately the big farming companies have made life harder for smaller businesses like yourself.
Absolutely right! We all have to farm with the resources that we have, land, buildings, capital, labour etc. It’s those who have pushed their businesses beyond the available resources that are the first to struggle and it’s no coincidence that they supply the big buyers. It may well only be a matter of time before the whole unsustainable chain collapses.
 
Last edited:

Lowland1

Member
Mixed Farmer
But why do first world countries not have the workers?? None have full employment ffs. Current UK unemployment rate is 5.4% and expected to rise to 5.9% in 2022. Current population is 68 349 862. That's 3 690 892 unemployed. Surely some of them could get off their asses......Or are unemployment benefits to good to live on like they are here if your to lazy to work?.
The actual number of unemployed is about 1.5 million people it's 4.5% of the working population. The number of job vacancies is 1.1 million so in theory unemployment should only be 400,000 but often vacancies and skills don't match but without doubt there are a lot of people who aren't keen on work.
I`ll use the mess revolver before then ;)
You need to let us know your name and address so I can make sure my two immigrant doctor sister in laws don't waste their time on you.
 

stewart

Member
Horticulture
Location
Bay of Plenty NZ
You really believe people earn £30.00 ph picking veg ? :oops: , the problem is the migrants will put up with poor conditions and low pay as the pay is better than at home and they only do it for a few months/seasons and growers exploit this ,no self respecting British worker would put up with whats on offer as a full time job.
We pay that and more for picking fruit, veg would be no different, some employers are arseholes and not worth working for, employees the same, some are not worth employing, constantly wingeing and upsetting the whole team, if British workers are not prepared to put the effort in and do the job then migrant workers will take their place, it has very little to do with poor conditions more like a poor work ethic.
 

Lowland1

Member
Mixed Farmer
Migrants cannot be blamed for poor working conditions, UK working conditions were never high even before migrants turned up to do the work that the Brits would not do. £30 per hour seems a reasonable wage, how high were they before if wages have been dragged down to this level?
180C02C7-6A99-44E7-838F-C76FDFB9A3C6.jpeg

The actual advert says there is a potential to earn £ 30 at no point in the article does it say how much you need to pick nor how it would be measured as you would be working in a gang with a rig so you’d have to hope everyone worked as hard as you did.
 

stewart

Member
Horticulture
Location
Bay of Plenty NZ
30 quid an hour is a good wage. Its just a headline price though, like most piece work. The very top can get it some of the time. Someone that motivated could make more doing something else though, that something could also be fulltime, guaranteed hours.

I've nothing against bringing in seasonal workers, I just thing the line describing seasonal is getting a bit blurred. Dairy farmers claiming they want access to cheaper labour being one example, that's not seasonal, same with a lot of jobs, meatworkers, Ag contractors etc. Many of those jobs could/should be fulltime, in which case they should have to compete for labour like other industries and give staff job security.
Our picking gangs earn the equivalent of 30 quid ($60) those that don't pull their weight in the gang soon disappear, the picking gangs sort this out themselves.
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 79 42.2%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 65 34.8%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 30 16.0%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 7 3.7%

Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

  • 1,289
  • 1
As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
Top