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Article: Coronavirus triggers acute farm labour shortages in Europe
09 April 2020
Read below an article taken from our IEG Vu platform dated
08/04/20.
EU policymakers and national governments are looking for ways to
plug a severe shortfall in seasonal workers that is threatening the
harvests of fruits and vegetables.
The open borders that had become nearly self-evident in most of
the EU's territory have now largely been closed as member states
introduced travel restrictions to stem the further spread of
Covid-19. This has left farmers in western Europe struggling to
bring in the tens of thousands of seasonal workers on which they
rely to pick their rapidly ripening fruits and vegetables.
The migrant labourers typically come from central and eastern
Europe or northern Africa, but a lot of those willing to make the
trip have now been stopped by the border closures, while others
decided to stay at home out of fears for the coronavirus or to live
through the lockdowns with their families.
Many EU fruit and vegetable growers are worried that this lack
of manpower will force them to leave (part of) their crops to rot
in the fields and lead to serious income losses this year.
Crucially, the farm labour shortages threaten food supplies at
their source at a time when many parts of the chain are already
under pressure from stockpiling and panic-buying by consumers.
The main problems are faced by producers of asparagus and
strawberries, two labour-intensive crops, according to the European
Fresh Produce Association (Freshfel). The group urged EU member
states on March 26 to take actions to secure the availability of
temporary labour for the upcoming harvests, including by supporting
the safe transport, work and accommodation of the incoming workers.
Otherwise, the situation could lead to substantial food waste and
put the supply of fresh produce to European supermarkets at risk,
Freshfel warned.
The European Parliament's Agriculture Committee (AGRI) also
raised the alarm over the issue on March 23, when chair Norbert
Lins sent a letter on behalf of all members to agriculture
commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski and AGRIFISH Council chair Marija
Vučković. Lins called the free movement of labour a "critical
issue" and argued that seasonal workers should be granted a special
"laissez-passer" to travel by means of buses, trains or even
airplanes. The AGRI members also called on the Commission to
coordinate the necessary actions between the member states to
ensure the labour supply while at the same time protecting these
workers against the virus.
One week earlier (March 19), farming and food associations urged
the EU executive to work with the member states to monitor the
potential shortages of workers, assess the impact on production,
and prepare contingency plans.
On March 30, the Commission responded to these demands by
including the agri-food sector in new guidelines to ensure the free
movement of "essential workers", saying that EU member states
should allow the seasonal migrant labourers to cross borders. It
warned that the EU's agri-food sector would face a "significant
labour shortage" if they are not able to reach their workplace and
this would risk disrupting supply chains. Meanwhile, national
governments have also called on their own populations to help the
farmers in need with the harvesting, targeting in particular the
unemployed or people working in other sectors that have been shut
down (see overview below). But Pekka Pesonen, secretary-general of
European farmers' association Copa Cogeca, expressed doubts that
such people will be willing or able to replace the missing workers.
Indeed, even if people would be motivated to take up such temporary
roles, most of them live in urban areas often far removed from the
farms that need them. The social distancing rules to prevent the
spread of Covid-19 also pose challenges to transporting these
people from their accommodation to the rural areas, for instance by
making shared vans or buses nearly practically impossible. Such
"volunteers" also have less or even no experience with the job and
need some form of training for the work, which are both likely to
slow down the harvesting process and lead to higher costs for
farmers.
Situation in Italy and Spain
Spain, the biggest exporter of fruit and vegetables in the EU,
typically has around 15,000 workers coming in from Morocco for the
picking season of strawberries and other red fruits, which is
already under way.
These people were again expected to arrive in the Huelva region
(Andalusia) this year as part of an agreement between the two
countries. But as of mid-March, less than half of them had made it
after the Moroccan government ordered the closure of its frontiers
to avoid a further spread of Covid-19. The lack of migrant workers
in the country could also affect a wide range of other crops such
as cucumbers, peppers and tomatoes, possibly with a strong impact
on availability and prices. To avoid these problems, Spain is now
looking among its national population for workers to fill these
roles and to carry out activities in the upcoming campaign, such as
the thinning of peach trees, which is usually done by Polish or
Romanian workers. Farm unions said they were targeting those who
are unemployed due to the coronavirus crisis and the people who
usually work in the hospitality sector, which has been strongly
affected by the forced closures of bars and restaurants.
In Italy, the other European powerhouse of fruit and vegetable
production and the EU nation first hit by the novel coronavirus,
the situation has been delicate for several weeks. Many foreign
workers who had already made the trip to Italy decided to return to
their home countries at an early stage after the first outbreaks of
the disease. According to farming association Coldiretti, the more
than 370,000 seasonal workers who travel to the country each year -
primarily from Romania, Bulgaria and Poland - produce more than a
quarter of all Italian food. The union estimates that around
100,000 of these labourers are not in the fields this season and
warned that this is putting several crops at risk. Strawberry,
cherry and peach harvests are the most in danger, while growers of
flowers and plants will also be strongly affected, it said.
Germans not willing to step in
In Germany, farmers employed nearly 300,000 seasonal workers
last year, with most of them willing to do this hard manual labour
for the minimum wage (EUR9.35 - USD10.10 - per hour) coming from
Romania and Poland. The start of the asparagus harvest in the
coming weeks will pose the first test for the sector in dealing
with the fallout from the coronavirus crisis. Over 23,000 hectares
of asparagus fields need to be harvested in the country, but
growers fear many crops may go to waste this year as lockdowns have
shut out the pickers on which they rely.
German agriculture minister Julia Klöckner still declared on
March 24 that "the asparagus must be harvested". To ensure the
necessary farm labour, she floated the idea of incentivising people
who work in other sectors and are currently inactive to temporarily
work on the fields, saying it is time to "consider unconventional
or creative solutions". To promote this outcome, her ministry also
launched a new online platform to match such people up with farmers
in need. Klöckner also successfully pushed the German government to
temporarily ease the 70-day time limit for harvest workers,
allowing them to work for up to 115 days until the end of October
without paying any social security contributions. But at the
of March, the agriculture minister had to acknowledge that
Germans won't be able to replace the missing labour force from
eastern Europe. The country typically welcomes 30,000 foreign farm
workers in March and 80,000 by May, but this year only a fraction
of that number has showed up.
"The labour situation along the entire food supply chain is
under immense strain," Kloeckner said. German farmers now consider
that some of their vegetables will not get harvested. Joachim
Rukwied, president of the farming association DBV, said the
government's measures had been insufficient and the country faces
reduced supplies of fruits and vegetables and higher prices for
these products.
France needs 'shadow army'
France's main farming union FNSEA also forecasts a harsh labour
shortage for the harvesting of seasonal fruits and vegetables due
to the closed borders. The country's farmers normally take on
200,000 seasonal workers between March and May, of which 70,000 to
80,000 come from countries like Spain, Portugal, Poland and
Tunisia, it said. FNSEA has called for thousands of people to help
plug this labour gap and give the sector a helping hand, addressing
in particular available students, people doing short-term work and
the self-employed. As in Germany, the group also launched a
platform to match potential candidates with farmers.
Agriculture Minister Didier Guillaume issued a similar rallying
cry on March 24, asking the unemployed and the people inactive due
to the confinement measures to form a 'shadow army' of fruit
pickers. But it is now increasingly doubtful whether this call will
be successful and able to meet the sector's needs.
UK sees even fewer EU workers
Similar ideas have been floated in Britain, where Brexit
concerns had already led to a drop in EU farm workers since the
referendum in June 2016. The coronavirus pandemic has now worsened
these problems for the country's farmers by disrupting the flow of
migrants, on which they rely, into the country. According to the
Country Land and Business Association (CLA), the agricultural
sector usually employs around 60,000 seasonal labourers per year to
complete the harvest, but just 25% of that amount is expected to
arrive this year. Factoring in a 20% coronavirus infection rate,
the union estimates that they will need around 80,000 workers in
total to pick all the produce, saying this is a number which it
"has never seen before".
The CLA warned that the labour shortages caused by border
restrictions could be "devastating" for this year's harvest and
called for a "land army" of local labour to step in, urging the
government to encourage newly unemployed people to work on farms.
The country's three main labour providers also launched the 'Feed
the Nation' campaign, which seeks to recruit as many as 90,000
workers for the sector. This initiative was openly backed by UK
environment secretary George Eustice, who appealed to the British
citizens to fill in the ranks.
"We need to mobilise the British workforce to fill that gap and
make sure our excellent fruit and vegetables are on people's plates
over the summer months," Eustice said. "There are already brilliant
recruitment efforts under way by industry and I would encourage as
many people as possible to sign up."
However, only around 10,000 people have reportedly signed up to
the platform, leaving many roles unfilled. Farming groups and
recruitment agencies are now pushing the government for more
drastic measures such as organising charter flights to fly in the
agricultural workers from eastern Europe. Otherwise, the
coronavirus-induced labour shortage could see millions of tonnes of
crops such as strawberries, cabbages, apples, cauliflower and
lettuce rotting in the fields, they warned.
The current problems could be a taste of what the country might
face after Brexit is completed on December 31, unless the
government will be able to bring in much more seasonal workers from
outside the EU through a special scheme.