Written evidence submitted by Apple and Pear (LS0059)

2021 Labour Survey - Initial Results

31 respondees, approximately 17.5% of the British apple and pear growers. Please note, many are still picking the 2021 crop.

Labour Shortages and Worker Origin

• Apples and pears are picked from August to early November. For most growers, the picking period is 6-10 weeks long

• Shortfalls in the seasonal labour that growers need have increased substantially since 2019. Survey respondents reported a shortfall rate of just 3% in 2019, 8% in 2020 and a huge 24% in 2021

• The proportion of EU nationals working in the sector was 86% in 2019, 75% in 2020, 54% in 2021 and is estimated to be just 28% of the seasonal workforce in 2022

• As the number of EU nationals coming to the UK continues to decline, Seasonal Worker Scheme (SWS) permit workers have contributed a growing proportion of the workforce. They made up 1.5% of the workforce in 2019, 6% in 2020, 32% in 2021 and are estimated to be around 52% of the workforce in 2022

• The number of UK resident workers taking seasonal roles picking apples and pears was 12% in 2019, 19% in 2020, 14% in 2021 and is estimated to be 9% in 2022

Food Waste

• While there were significant numbers of apples and pears wasted as a direct result of labour shortages in 2019 and 2020, the waste top fruit almost doubled in 2021

• These survey figures are representative of the whole British apple and pear industry. In total an estimated 8,354 tonnes of apples and pears went to waste in 2021. This is equivalent to 68 million individual apples and pears – enough to feed 190,000 children an apple or pear every day for a year*

• The wasted apples and pears equate to 5% of the national crop**

• Had this fruit been picked and sold in the most common six-pack in most UK supermarkets this food waste value is over £17 million***

Narrative feedback from Growers

There is real concern that labour shortages have resulted in each variety being picked later than the optimum picking dates require, which has compromised the quality of the fruit, and will lead to fruit deteriorating faster in coldstores. This will mean that growers/packers will fail to meet their full supermarket programmes. This is a real concern as it may also damage the perception of British fruit quality in the minds of consumers.

Other comments:

“Packhouse teams were diverted to pick fruit”

“Labour, the future cost and availability, is the reason we are cutting back on planting”

“Returnees are not there”

“The biggest story is the recruitment costs.  In previous years I have recruited out of Bulgaria: returnees and a few others.  Virtually nil cost to my business.  Now to employ SAWS employees I have to register with an Agency (£400) and then pay another £230/employee.  The cost is significant.  One of the SAWS employees only stayed for 5 days.  The cost further sticks in the throat given that all the SAWS employees I had were already in the UK on a SAWS VISA and were transferring from another farm because that farm had finished picking.  All at the expense of the Grower.”

“The amount [of] hollow promises, let downs we had by agencies were horrendous. There were many wasted days trying to recruit. The last-minute rush to get labour in to pick the fruit was not something we would like to repeat. Historically, we would employ direct from Europe with a few English coming from local adverts. Last year we were very lucky to have local furloughed workers to pick the fruit. Agencies were letting us down completely and local uptake was minimal, the locals we did employ only lasted a matter of hours. Without Fruitful Jobs, we wouldn’t have got our crop picked this year, this said 30% of these pickers were not experienced and very slow.”

*               Calculation: 1,462 apple and pear waste tonnes reported in survey from 31 (responders). 31 responders represent 17.5% of the entire industry. Total industry waste = 1,462/17.5 x 100 = 8,354 tonnes, or 8,354,000 kg, or 8,354,000,000 grams / 123g per apple or pear = 67,918,699 individual apples or pears / 365 days in a year = an apple or pear a day for 186,078 children

**              Assumes that the national crop is 170,000 tonnes

***              Price of 6 pack in Tesco = £1.60; 8,354 tonnes @ 95% class 1 grade out = 7,936,300 kg @740 grams/pack = 10,724,729 packs x £1.60 = £17,159,566