the manufacturing plants are, they don t have the right skills, and i suspect a lot of them wouldn t want to go and work in food manufacturing plants. food industry trade bodies warn there s now a chronic labour shortage across the whole supply chain. this business grows, imports and distributes fresh fruit and veg. there s everything here from carrots to pomegranates, and a lot of it ends up in high street restaurants. but here at this distribution centre, they re 20% short of staff. we are definitely going to start seeing more i supermarket shelves empty, restaurant plates empty. - and then, the big concern- ongoing from that is christmas. he supports calls for a temporary visa scheme to bring in food workers and lorry drivers from europe. isn t it more important to build a sustainable workforce from within the uk, and ultimately pay them more? i m more than happy to do that. but if the era of cheap
now, those people aren t living in areas where the manufacturing plants are, they don t have the right skills, and i suspect a lot of them wouldn t want to go and work in food manufacturing plants. food industry trade bodies warn there s now a chronic labour shortage across the whole supply chain. this business grows, imports and distributes fresh fruit and veg. there s everything here from carrots to pomegranates, and a lot of it ends up in high street restaurants. but here at this distribution centre, they re 20% short of staff. we are definitely going to start seeing more i supermarket shelves empty, restaurant plates empty. - and then, the big concern- ongoing from that is christmas. he supports calls for a temporary visa scheme to bring in food workers and lorry drivers from europe. isn t it more important to build a sustainable workforce from within the uk, and ultimately pay them more? i m more than happy to do that.
growing calls for a temporary visa scheme to try to fill the gap. our business correspondent katy austin reports. preparing these turkeys for christmas involves 100 extra workers who used to come in from eastern europe. because of brexit, we don t have that guaranteed labour that we ve had for the past 30 years. the bigger companies that supply all the supermarkets, they had made the decision to cut their production by between 20% and 25%, which is huge. so, there will absolutely be a shortage of quality british turkeys. other areas of food production are also having problems. a shortage of meat processors has caused a backlog of pigs on farms. the government is basically saying that furlough is coming to an end at the end of september, so you can have all of those people and that will resolve your issues. now, those people aren t living in areas where the manufacturing plants are, they don t have the right skills, and i suspect a lot of them wouldn t want to go and work in food manufa
other areas of food production are also having problems. a shortage of meat processors has caused a backlog of pigs on farms. the government is basically saying that furlough is coming to an end at the end of september so you can have all of those people and that will resolve your issues. now, those people aren t living in areas where the manufacturing plants are, they don t have the right skills, and i suspect a lot of them wouldn t want to go and work in food manufacturing plants. food industry trade bodies warn there is now a chronic labour shortage across the whole supply chain. this business grows, imports and distributes fresh fruit and veg. there is everything here from carrots to pomegranates, and a lot of it ends up in high street restaurants. but here at this distribution centre, they are 20% short of staff. we are definitely going to start seeing more supermarket shelves empty, restaurant plates empty.