Small fruit sizes and the rising demands of seasonal workers will be taking a toll on the autumn raspberry campaign in Poland. In fact, half of the fruit is expected to remain on the bush.
"One of last year's raspberries looked like three this year," said one of the growers in the TV program "Agrobusiness" on TVP, who was interviewed to explain the market issues. "Due to the impact of frosts, the fruits are small in size and the harvest has been delayed. Many of those raspberries are only suitable for the processing industry, but they pay little; it is hard to get 4 złoty per kilo (about 0.93 Euro). And that's not the only problem."
Growers are also in need of more labourers. "The Ukrainians are coming, and when they find out they don't have high wages, they move on," stated one producer in the program.
Seasonal workers in Poland now want to earn over 100 złoty per day (about 23.38 Euro), and they are also demanding food and commuting costs, which is no longer worthwhile for employers. This will cause the autumn raspberry harvest to finish much earlier than usual. The growers predict that half of the fruit may not even be harvested at all.
Source: agrobiznes.money.pl
