Tag: Bust (sculpture)

An asparagus farmer whose produce looks set to be served at Saturday’s royal wedding has warned he faces going bust because of Brexit. Royal protocol prevents Allen from confirming his Portwood Asparagus farm has been chosen but he said: “We are certainly in the frame and I do know there will be a story to tell on Monday.” Lack of migrant workers left food rotting in UK fields last year, data reveals Read more Supplying the royal kitchens provides a huge boost to Allen’s business but he warns it will not help him plug the gap in migrant workers he needs to stay afloat after the the UK leaves the European Union. “We are completely reliant on seasonal migrant workers. If we can’t get that labour I’ll have to pack up. There is not the technology to pick asparagus with robots.” Allen’s fears highlight the plight of many fruit and vegetable growers who rely on the EU’s free movement rules to find cheap labour for seasonal jobs shunned by British workers. Relatively high employment around Allen’s farm near Attleborough means he cannot attract local people to work at the minimum wage for the three months of the asparagus season. We don’t care if it comes from the rest of the world or the EU, we just need a supply of labour.” He added: “I know I sound like a whingeing farmer making too much of this, but this is reality and politicians really haven’t got a handle on it.” Allen is so concerned about finding workers next year that he has restricted planting on a crop that takes three years to grow. “If I knew we were going to vote for Brexit and the whole thing was going to into uncertainty would I have done this? “I’m certain that from now on there are going to be big shortages – because migrant workers are looking at Britain and thinking what’s going to happen and going to mainland Europe instead.” Jersey Royal potato crop could be hit by shortage of EU workers Read more Allen’s workers are sourced by the migrant labour charity Concordia, which supplies about 10,000 mostly EU workers to 200 farms. The public voted to not have enough workers to pick fruit and veg in this country.