The National Farmers Union, the British Growers Association, British Summer Fruits and British Apples and Pears have jointly instructed John Pelham of Andersons Midlands to prepare a report on the potential implications of Covid-19 for UK fruit and vegetable growers’ costs of production in 2020.
The early completion of this report was considered important to assist growers, marketeers, their customers and government. One disadvantage of publishing at the beginning of June 2020 is that some observations on increased costs of production will be based on forecasts, rather than actual, data. This is therefore a first report, providing financial illustrations for those crops where actual information is already available; a further update is anticipated later in the year when actual data is available for those crops yet to reach their period of significant expenditure.
Asparagus employment cost increases
The author would emphasise that this report has been based on the circumstances that apply at the time of writing – and includes no speculation on the financial consequences of possible future events (the most threatening to most businesses being the inability to operate with either some or all of their workforce as a result of a Covid-19 issue).
To read the full report by British Summer Fruits, please click here.