It has been a good start for the British strawberry season, the timing was around the same as last year, but the warm sunny conditions have accelerated volumes and demand.
"Yields to date are up 30% year on year," said Nicholas Marston, Chairman of British Berry Growers. "Demand for strawberries in May and June is always good, they are the first new season fruit on the market, before the melons and stone fruit from Europe come in. We can get flushes in production later in the season, but at the moment, demand and supply are balanced."
The quality of the berries is very good as it has not been too hot and the overnight temperatures have been cool, sizes are also good.
Challenges
Despite a great start, growers still face challenges in covering the increasing cost of direct labour. "The living wage has gone up 6.7%, growers understand that workers need to earn a decent wage, so this is not a problem. But in addition to this, they are also having to cover an increase of 1.5% in National Insurance contributions as well as a lowering of the limit where these contributions have to be paid. In total, this all adds up to an 11% increase in direct labour costs, which account for over 50% of the total cost of production."
A couple of years ago there was a lot of unrest between growers and retailers on the retail price of produce compared to returns, but this seems to be getting better.
"There have been a lot of discussions between growers and retailers to even this out, it is also a challenge for retailers to up the prices for consumers. It seems that morale and growers' confidence have now improved. There are still issues with seasonal labour; workers still only get a six-month visa, while the fruit picking season is up to nine months, which means new workers need to be brought in during the season. These newbies are understandably less skilled and less productive than the workers who have been there from the beginning, and their earning capacity is reduced. We are pushing for a nine-month visa, but this also brings with it a surcharge for the health service of £1000, which needs to be covered. However, this cost would be attractive to growers compared to the fees involved in recruiting new staff after 6 months."
UK berry producers have played a big part in the Producers Organisations, or the Fruit and Vegetable Aid Scheme, but for growers in England, this will be stopped at the end of the year. This is not the case in Scotland or in Northern Ireland. "This scheme has not been hugely costly for the Exchequer and has been very successful in driving research and innovation, focused especially on productivity in the industry. Unfortunately, as with a lot of Government policies, there has been no clarity to date on any replacement scheme.
Trade deal
This week saw the UK and the EU announce a new trade deal, the implications of which are still unclear as there is no definite timeline on anything yet.
"They are talking about a Youth Mobility Scheme, but whether this would benefit the growers remains to be seen. We hold out hope, but it would depend on the rules attached and if young people want to come over and pick fruit."
The UK mainly produces berries to fill the domestic market, but the deal may offer opportunities for export, "At the moment there is a four day wait to get inspected for the phytosanitary certificates to send fruit to Europe, which is just not viable for soft fruit, if the need for the certificates was to be removed then export would be an extra market many growers would consider "
"On a positive note, the area planted in strawberries has increased slightly this year after a few years of stagnation, showing grower confidence in increasing again."
For more information:
Nicholas Marsden
British Berry Growers
[email protected]