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Horticulture farmers are attempting to slow down the ripening of their strawberry crops as COVID-19 travel restrictions prevent the usual arrival of seasonal workers from continental Europe.
Irish growers produce 8,000t of fresh strawberries worth up to €43m every year.
The Department of Agriculture said it is “acutely” aware of the importance of seasonal labour and encouraged farmers to recruit labour in Ireland, including recently laid-off individuals.
We were aiming to start picking on 1 May but we’re trying to slow down the ripening on the crop until 1 June
However, John Green of Green’s Berry Farm in Wexford said he felt Irish people remained unwilling to become fruit pickers.
“We have a good relationship with the pickers who come every year, usually the same people from Slovakia, Poland and the Ukraine,” Green said.
“We were aiming to start picking on 1 May but we’re trying to slow down the ripening on the crop until 1 June.
“Hopefully by then, restrictions will have eased and we can get the pickers in.”
Fruit producer Cyril Wheelock of Wheelock Fruits said he was also trying to slow down his crop.
“We have a farm shop and with no one on the road, there won’t be any roadside sales of strawberries,” he said.
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