I want to start by thanking everyone that attended the NFU seminars during Fruit Focus last week. I took part in the Brexit and robotics sessions which, as ever, were really well attended and provided an excellent opportunity for discussion on some of the biggest topics for the sector.
During the Brexit seminar, we talked about the implications of a no-deal and what that might mean for labour availability during 2019. While not all no-deal scenarios mean completely ‘crashing out’ of the EU, it is possible that we will see the end of free movement of EU labour, preventing us from accessing the c. 30,000+ workers that come into the UK each year to grow, pick and pack our crops. This would be a disaster for our industry – we need government to do two things: a) put the mechanism in place to enable recruitment of EU nationals for the 2019 season from this Autumn and b) put measures in place to enable us to recruit outside the EU.
In the robotics seminar, we were presented with some interesting ideas about future technology and how it can help our sectors; from robotic strawberry pickers to augmented reality that assists workers to do their job more efficiently. What was very clear, though, was that much of the technology coming through will assist workers, not replace them. We learned a new word - “cobots” - collaborative robots! And we learned that the industry is 5-7 years away from commercial scale solutions that will replace any significant numbers of pickers. So, if the government has any illusions about labour shortages being a driver to force the industry to automate, this session provided a suitable wake-up call.
It was a particularly hot day at Fruit Focus and the fact that many of the exhibitors had come prepared with slushy or ice cream machines, showed just what a season we’ve had. The NFU has, quite rightly, labelled this year as an ‘agricultural drought’ – not a drought according to water authorities, but significant enough to have widespread impacts across the whole of agriculture and horticulture.
As you can imagine, the NFU has been incredibly busy over the last couple of months: speaking to packers, processors and retailers to push for fairness for growers; advising members (through NFU Call First) on contractual queries; providing member briefings on contracts, and the implications for environmental schemes and BPS. All the latest information is available on the NFU website here.
What is critical during these difficult times is to talk to your customer and raise your concerns. Many of those businesses we have spoken to so far have either relaxed specifications already, or are currently in talks with their suppliers to determine what actions they need to take. As one of them put it, if they didn’t support their growers now, their consumers would be faced with empty shelves. And none of us want that.