Horticulture growers are worried about labour shortages for this year’s soft fruit harvest. Most of the seasonal workforce on fruit and vegetable farms would be employed from May onwards.
Lack of clarity around what will happen after 5 May is causing concern, as growers rely heavily on migrant labour.
Many growers looked at the logistics of chartering planes to bring in seasonal labour from places like Bulgaria and Romania.
However, most were reluctant to do it until restrictions were lifted and decided to wait and see whether some of them might be lifted on time. Last week, Keelings chartered a plane to bring in some 180 “skilled horticulture staff”.
David Keeling of Keelings.
A statement on their website said that Keelings is “also recruiting for local workers to join us in picking our crops on the farm along with other roles in the Keelings business. It is essential that we have adequate staffing on the farm to pick crops quickly as they ripen, or we risk shortages in the market.”
The company said it wanted “to assure the public that we are doing all we can to help support local employment at this time and to ensure the safety of all our workers.
“We again want to assure people that no horticulture worker coming from another region will be asked to work without a full 14 days restricted movement.”
I saw a lot of people complaining, but no one was offering a solution
There was mixed reaction from the public to the move, with some people arguing that they should not have been allowed to bring people in to Ireland when we are living with so many restrictions.
“I saw a lot of people complaining, but no one was offering a solution,” said managing director of Crewit Gary O’Keeffe, who specialises in agricultural recruitment.
Gary O'Keeffe from Crewit. \ Odile Evans
He says he had 200 people that were ready to come to Ireland for jobs in horticulture, dairy and meat factories but that has been paused. “Despite the unemployment in our economy, the labour shortage in horticulture has not dramatically changed, it has been an issue for a long time. I’ve been asked to charter flights and we will do it in a safe and manageable way, one that doesn’t put people at risk. But it will come at a cost. It is €40,000 to €50,000 to charter a plane.”
In the UK, growers joined forces a number of weeks back to highlight the fact that there would be a shortage of skilled migrant labour to harvest their produce.
A number of charted flights saw migrant workers land in Britain over the last week
They started a war-style “land army” campaign to try attract people in the UK that may be out of jobs to come work on farms for the harvest.
However, it is understood that the number of people that signed up fell a well short of the 70,000 people needed. A number of charted flights saw migrant workers land in Britain over the last week.
Students
Irish growers are looking at hiring second- and third-level students on their summer holidays to potentially help fill the labour gap.
In the past, it would have been mainly Irish people that were employed on fruit farms to carry out harvesting work. But since the mid-1990s Ireland has become increasingly reliant on migrant labour for a number of reasons.
Growers have said that in some cases, young Irish people do not have the same work ethic or productivity.
They told Irish Country Living that a certain “get-up-and-go attitude” is needed, but often those that have that work ethic go abroad for the summer.
Some are hopeful that students that may not be able to use their J1 visa to work in the US for the summer, will be willing to join the horticulture sector instead.
Permits
Labour shortages in the horticulture industry is not a new issue and organisations have campaigned to increase the number of non-EEA work permits available to the horticulture industry under the Department of Business pilot programme. The quota of 500 workers for horticulture has been filled.
This is not a rolling quota. Once they are filled, that is it. The worker is granted an employment permit for two years.
It can then be renewed for that person for a further three years, after which the permit holder can apply for long-term residency or citizenship.
“When the quota has been reached, no further new permits may be granted, unless a further quota of employment permits is provided for in new Employment Permit Regulations.
At a conference last year, we heard that there is a 14% shortage of workers in horticulture
“Renewals of permits issued under the quota will continue to be processed,” a spokesperson for the Department of Business told Irish Country Living.
The quota was increased for meat deboners. The Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) made a submission to the Department of Business in February looking for a further 500 permits to be made available for horticulture.
“At a conference last year, we heard that there is a 14% shortage of workers in horticulture,” said Martin Frayne from recruitment company Protential Resources.
“We have people lined up for jobs but we’re waiting for the Government to announce what will happen after 5 May. We can’t book flights at the moment because we have no confidence in it.”
Some countries operate a seasonal worker scheme, which grants people permits to work in the country for a number of months.
The department is committed to the introduction of a seasonal employment permit
The Department of Business says that a scheme like this will be included in the new employment permits legislation. The legislation is being developed this and it was due to be introduced to the schedule in early summer.
“The department is committed to the introduction of a seasonal employment permit under the proposed new employment permits legislation for which Government approval has been secured,” the Department of Business told Irish Country Living.
“Given the COVID emergency, the timelines for this legislation has been delayed and it is not possible at this stage to give a new timeline.”
Harvest 2020
In the meantime, for harvest 2020, staff will be needed from next month onwards.
“Some growers are employing locals who have lost jobs. Some people are willing to do this work because they can earn between €500/week and €700/week picking table-top strawberries.
“Some 2,000 to 3,000 people will be needed in the soft fruit sector alone,” said Teagasc soft fruit specialist Eamonn Kehoe.
The busy time for vegetables is later, we will need a certain amount of staff for planting around mid-May
“We’re hoping that third-level students will be interested. If they want to help the best place to go is the Facebook page or website of their local fruit grower.”
Meanwhile, an estimated 1,000 workers will be needed in the vegetable sector.
“The busy time for vegetables is later, we will need a certain amount of staff for planting around mid-May,” said Teagasc vegetable specialist Stephen Alexander. “It’s a wait-and-see situation.”
Growers say they need a flexible workforce that is willing to work five to six days a week, rather than part time. They say the first option is always to recruit locally where they can.
Jimmy Kearns, Enniscorthy, Co Wexford.
Jimmy Kearns,
Enniscorthy, Co Wexford
Jimmy is a strawberry grower with 12 full-time staff. He employs approximately 90 seasonal workers each year.
“We are worried about labour. We had applied for extra worker permits this year but haven’t got them yet. We also have people waiting to come to Ireland but they are not flying yet.
“Myself and my wife both have underlying health conditions and we are putting our health and the health of our staff first. We have been taking the temperature of our staff at the start of the day for over a month now.
“My daughter in Singapore told us that was what was happening there.
All our staff are social distancing at work
“It puts our mind at rest and we feel a little safer because you might have some idea if someone is sick. All our staff are social distancing at work. We’re OK at the minute but we will want 45 to 50 people over the next few weeks.
“I think that what Keelings did, flying in staff, is greed and it has hurt the reputation of the industry. We are all worried about labour, they could have waited a few weeks for when restrictions are lifted.
In the 1990s a lot of the Irish staff disappeared
“We’re hoping to hire some Irish people. I’m at this business since the early 1970s. At that time we used to employ 300 Irish people for six weeks and they were good workers.
“In the 1990s a lot of the Irish staff disappeared. Nowadays, I can’t employ people until they are 16-years-old and they’ve never worked a day in their lives. Out of every 100 you might get two or three that are good.
“We’re hoping to employ that core of people that want to work, they are often the ones that travel. That’s what I’m hoping for on this farm this year.”
Read more
Strawberries can’t be picked from home
Government 'hadn’t envisioned' hundreds of seasonal workers - Taoiseach
Horticulture growers are worried about labour shortages for this year’s soft fruit harvest. Most of the seasonal workforce on fruit and vegetable farms would be employed from May onwards.
Lack of clarity around what will happen after 5 May is causing concern, as growers rely heavily on migrant labour.
Many growers looked at the logistics of chartering planes to bring in seasonal labour from places like Bulgaria and Romania.
However, most were reluctant to do it until restrictions were lifted and decided to wait and see whether some of them might be lifted on time. Last week, Keelings chartered a plane to bring in some 180 “skilled horticulture staff”.
David Keeling of Keelings.
A statement on their website said that Keelings is “also recruiting for local workers to join us in picking our crops on the farm along with other roles in the Keelings business. It is essential that we have adequate staffing on the farm to pick crops quickly as they ripen, or we risk shortages in the market.”
The company said it wanted “to assure the public that we are doing all we can to help support local employment at this time and to ensure the safety of all our workers.
“We again want to assure people that no horticulture worker coming from another region will be asked to work without a full 14 days restricted movement.”
I saw a lot of people complaining, but no one was offering a solution
There was mixed reaction from the public to the move, with some people arguing that they should not have been allowed to bring people in to Ireland when we are living with so many restrictions.
“I saw a lot of people complaining, but no one was offering a solution,” said managing director of Crewit Gary O’Keeffe, who specialises in agricultural recruitment.
Gary O'Keeffe from Crewit. \ Odile Evans
He says he had 200 people that were ready to come to Ireland for jobs in horticulture, dairy and meat factories but that has been paused. “Despite the unemployment in our economy, the labour shortage in horticulture has not dramatically changed, it has been an issue for a long time. I’ve been asked to charter flights and we will do it in a safe and manageable way, one that doesn’t put people at risk. But it will come at a cost. It is €40,000 to €50,000 to charter a plane.”
In the UK, growers joined forces a number of weeks back to highlight the fact that there would be a shortage of skilled migrant labour to harvest their produce.
A number of charted flights saw migrant workers land in Britain over the last week
They started a war-style “land army” campaign to try attract people in the UK that may be out of jobs to come work on farms for the harvest.
However, it is understood that the number of people that signed up fell a well short of the 70,000 people needed. A number of charted flights saw migrant workers land in Britain over the last week.
Students
Irish growers are looking at hiring second- and third-level students on their summer holidays to potentially help fill the labour gap.
In the past, it would have been mainly Irish people that were employed on fruit farms to carry out harvesting work. But since the mid-1990s Ireland has become increasingly reliant on migrant labour for a number of reasons.
Growers have said that in some cases, young Irish people do not have the same work ethic or productivity.
They told Irish Country Living that a certain “get-up-and-go attitude” is needed, but often those that have that work ethic go abroad for the summer.
Some are hopeful that students that may not be able to use their J1 visa to work in the US for the summer, will be willing to join the horticulture sector instead.
Permits
Labour shortages in the horticulture industry is not a new issue and organisations have campaigned to increase the number of non-EEA work permits available to the horticulture industry under the Department of Business pilot programme. The quota of 500 workers for horticulture has been filled.
This is not a rolling quota. Once they are filled, that is it. The worker is granted an employment permit for two years.
It can then be renewed for that person for a further three years, after which the permit holder can apply for long-term residency or citizenship.
“When the quota has been reached, no further new permits may be granted, unless a further quota of employment permits is provided for in new Employment Permit Regulations.
At a conference last year, we heard that there is a 14% shortage of workers in horticulture
“Renewals of permits issued under the quota will continue to be processed,” a spokesperson for the Department of Business told Irish Country Living.
The quota was increased for meat deboners. The Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) made a submission to the Department of Business in February looking for a further 500 permits to be made available for horticulture.
“At a conference last year, we heard that there is a 14% shortage of workers in horticulture,” said Martin Frayne from recruitment company Protential Resources.
“We have people lined up for jobs but we’re waiting for the Government to announce what will happen after 5 May. We can’t book flights at the moment because we have no confidence in it.”
Some countries operate a seasonal worker scheme, which grants people permits to work in the country for a number of months.
The department is committed to the introduction of a seasonal employment permit
The Department of Business says that a scheme like this will be included in the new employment permits legislation. The legislation is being developed this and it was due to be introduced to the schedule in early summer.
“The department is committed to the introduction of a seasonal employment permit under the proposed new employment permits legislation for which Government approval has been secured,” the Department of Business told Irish Country Living.
“Given the COVID emergency, the timelines for this legislation has been delayed and it is not possible at this stage to give a new timeline.”
Harvest 2020
In the meantime, for harvest 2020, staff will be needed from next month onwards.
“Some growers are employing locals who have lost jobs. Some people are willing to do this work because they can earn between €500/week and €700/week picking table-top strawberries.
“Some 2,000 to 3,000 people will be needed in the soft fruit sector alone,” said Teagasc soft fruit specialist Eamonn Kehoe.
The busy time for vegetables is later, we will need a certain amount of staff for planting around mid-May
“We’re hoping that third-level students will be interested. If they want to help the best place to go is the Facebook page or website of their local fruit grower.”
Meanwhile, an estimated 1,000 workers will be needed in the vegetable sector.
“The busy time for vegetables is later, we will need a certain amount of staff for planting around mid-May,” said Teagasc vegetable specialist Stephen Alexander. “It’s a wait-and-see situation.”
Growers say they need a flexible workforce that is willing to work five to six days a week, rather than part time. They say the first option is always to recruit locally where they can.
Jimmy Kearns, Enniscorthy, Co Wexford.
Jimmy Kearns,
Enniscorthy, Co Wexford
Jimmy is a strawberry grower with 12 full-time staff. He employs approximately 90 seasonal workers each year.
“We are worried about labour. We had applied for extra worker permits this year but haven’t got them yet. We also have people waiting to come to Ireland but they are not flying yet.
“Myself and my wife both have underlying health conditions and we are putting our health and the health of our staff first. We have been taking the temperature of our staff at the start of the day for over a month now.
“My daughter in Singapore told us that was what was happening there.
All our staff are social distancing at work
“It puts our mind at rest and we feel a little safer because you might have some idea if someone is sick. All our staff are social distancing at work. We’re OK at the minute but we will want 45 to 50 people over the next few weeks.
“I think that what Keelings did, flying in staff, is greed and it has hurt the reputation of the industry. We are all worried about labour, they could have waited a few weeks for when restrictions are lifted.
In the 1990s a lot of the Irish staff disappeared
“We’re hoping to hire some Irish people. I’m at this business since the early 1970s. At that time we used to employ 300 Irish people for six weeks and they were good workers.
“In the 1990s a lot of the Irish staff disappeared. Nowadays, I can’t employ people until they are 16-years-old and they’ve never worked a day in their lives. Out of every 100 you might get two or three that are good.
“We’re hoping to employ that core of people that want to work, they are often the ones that travel. That’s what I’m hoping for on this farm this year.”
Read more
Strawberries can’t be picked from home
Government 'hadn’t envisioned' hundreds of seasonal workers - Taoiseach
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