Those wind turbines and electric cars don't look so eco-friendly now....

Well you managed to quote the post so you must know where it is, and if you read it, it is a reply to someone else's post and not one of yours, it regards greedy power companies.

 

Thank you

 

Ah after the end of the British asparagus season...Lidl has already started air freighting it from Mexico. Just ridiculous

 

Not if you are a Mexican farmer, but yes I agree.

 

Mexican asparagus is not too good either. Perhaps we should be told where products are from or is that just too much red tape? I might not buy based on distance, but then again on country. I'm not a big fan of French apples or Egyptian peaches, oh and a lot of British fruit and veg (do like the asparagus mind you)

 

I think all packets in s/ms do have country of origin on them.

 

It was not long ago that they were predicting asparagus production to reach 6,000 ton by 2026 in the UK, well production has actually declined. It's been well documented about farmers struggling to get seasonal workers plus take into account high inflation, where consumers are swapping the likes of asparagus for other cheaper produce, then you start to understand why some British farmers may not of grown the same volume.

The UK imports roughly 12-13,000 tonnes of asparagus annually, but yet we import over 500,000 tonnes of bananas. I have seen Asparagus tips prices reduced to clear in Morrison's the last couple of times I have been in, which I purchased where as I wouldn't have at full price.

Norfolk farm ceases asparagus production due to lack of labour - Hort News.

 

Well, if we hadn't voted for BREXIT, we might still be able to get the workers.

 

It's not just the UK that is struggling with seasonal workers, other countries in the bloc are having the same issues. Or is Brexit to blame for everything?

Germany needs over 300,000 seasonal workers, Spain is having issues also.

Abusive working conditions endemic in Spain’s strawberry farms, report claims

 

The Apple and pear farm where I used to work never had a problem getting workers from abroad after Brexit, covid was bad for allowing workers over and I dont think they could travel easily that year, 2020, but 2021 they were back.
The manager said if you treat them well the same ones come back year after year, its good money and the younger ones enjoy it even though its hard work, that doesn't bother them.

I can see that on some farms they do need to allow longer visas than 6 months, but if we are importing something like 700,000 people a year anyway I cant see the problem.

 

The French and Belgians prefer fat white asparagus for some reason but OH and I like the proper green stuff for texture and flavour. We did plant some here and it was starting to do OK till we had a very early heatwave last May and then the long, wet winter and the long, cool, dark, sopping wet spring has seen ours off.

I can get French and Spanish grown green asparagus here but it can be expensive early on and then again as sources dry up. I draw the line at 7€ or more for 2 dozen spears but it's come down to 4€99 now with the stalks often being much thicker so I need to see about some new plants.

 

There was an interesting article in our local paper this week about 'slave labour' and the forces of Laura Norder. The gendarmes have broken up three organised rackets based in Morocco/SW France this year already. N. Africans are lured over here with promises of papers, decent salaries and accommodation, working in the vineyards. The reality that awaits them is rather different.
I think the relevant point is 'if you treat them well'. That costs money and if the French government wasn't so rapacious maybe, just maybe employers wouldn't have to employ illegals to keep their costs to a minimum. (Although there's also the famous French aversion to hard work to take into account ).
It's the same principle for any small business here. Most run as one-man bands or family concerns because the costs, rules and regulations of employing staff are prohibitive. Then said Government wastes billions paying the unemployed. Spot the error...

 

No good if you are buying online....

 

Even if the government did issue longer visas, it does not guarantee there would of been an uptake.
I don't think people fully realise how much Covid has had an impact, especially from Eastern European countries.

As of 2020, the population of Poland was 38,429,000 give or take a few thousand, with their population being around the 38,500,000 mark since 2000. But by 2022 that had jumped by over 4%, never in their history has there been such an increase. By 2023 the population stood at just over 41,000,000. It's very obvious that many Polish nationals moved back and not just from the UK, plus those numbers from the Ukraine will have to be taken into account.

Also Eastern European countries had the highest death rate per 1M population, Bulgaria being a prime example. They also had some of the lowest vaccine rates, by the end of 2022 they reckon less than 30% of the population had received there first Covid jab which would of probably restricted there movement within the EU anyways.

 

If shopping on a supermarket site, @DiggersJo , isn’t the country of origin usually part of the listed product information. More of a faff to look at, but I’ve usually found it there.