'Foretaste' of Brexit: Virus cuts off much of UK farm labor

Britain's fruit and vegetable farmers have long dreaded their country's exit from the European Union, worrying that it would keep out the tens of thousands of Eastern European workers who come every year to pick produce.

Now, the coronavirus pandemic has brought that feared future to the present: Travel restrictions imposed to slow the virus' spread are blocking laborers just as the harvest season for lettuces and berries begins in earnest.

In June, 1 million heads of lettuce will need to be picked in Britain every day, then trimmed and transported to supermarkets all without bruising and before they wilt. It takes experience and a lot of hands.

Without the necessary workforce, crops could be left to rot and growers may eventually decide to move some of their operations overseas, farmers warn.

It may be a foretaste of what next year will look like, said Jack Ward, chief executive of the British Growers Association.

Except that if the economy picks up again, we'll get to the situation where there isn't even the unemployment to make good the shortfall of people coming from Eastern Europe. We'll have to move production to where the workers are.

Britain which grows over 50% of its vegetables and just under 20 per cent of the fruit is heavily reliant on seasonal farm workers from abroad.

An estimated 70,000 to 90,000 people are needed between April and October each year to plant, pick and pack the produce. The overwhelming majority come from Eastern Europe, most just for the season before returning home. Britons make up just 1 per cent of the workers.

Many of the migrants from EU states Romania, Bulgaria and Poland return year after year, and are highly valued by farmers for their skill and speed. But with most flights grounded, only about a third of the migrant workers who would normally be in Britain are here, according to Environment Secretary George Eustice.