Workers are no longer in Eastern Europe after Brexit, so there is no one picking lettuce in the country.
As long as in Australia lettuce shortage In the UK, producers have had to throw out 150 tonnes of lettuce since the start of the season, a harvest of 30 per cent this year, according to Nicholas Utley, director of the largest salad producer at Euronews in Kent.
The reason for the shortage is the fact that Eastern European workers did not return after Brexit, so no one on the farm picked the lettuce. The owners want to replace the workforce with workers from Central Asia who are being called in from Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. This business does not attract the British.
There is an effort to get the British here, we’ve tried very hard, but they won’t come. We’ve been in touch with Maidstone Career Center for four years now, but not a single person has come here yet. So let’s leave it all behind
Nicholas Utley said.
Euronews reporter Luke Hanrahan said
Last year alone, an astonishing 600 tons were harvested on this one farm. It is almost as hard to find a job this year as it was last year. Farmers say that if more seasonal workers are not allowed to remove, say, this broccoli, these lands will cease to exist in the UK.
The British government is aware of the labor shortage and has extended the seasonal workers program until 2024. It says they are also working to make the area more attractive to the British. euronews.
