so, when will you be starting stockpiling I wonder?

our

But don't you agree Baggs that when that smaller choice of fruit and veg becomes less available the prices will sky rocket and those at the bottom of the financial tree will suffer as usual?

Also (not directed at you Baggs) the biggest foodbank in the country is very worried that if people do selfishly start stockpiling and fresh food does become harder to get and more expensive then they will be forced to close. Where will that leave the poorest in our society?

But we import over 50% of our food. Some of that is inessential, but it’s hard to say it all is. Plus a lot of fruit and veg grown in this country is produced via imported labour, farmers are already complaining about food rotting in fields because there’s no one to pick it. At the very best, food prices are going to rise.

But don't you agree Baggs that when that smaller choice of fruit and veg becomes less available the prices will sky rocket and those at the bottom of the financial tree will suffer as usual?

I agree that that's a possibility, gbob. But we don't know if it will happen. Which answers your second point as well.

Necessity is the mother of invention. Time to bring on automated picking perhaps?

Yes, I'm being a bit flippant, but only a bit. I don't see the point in worrying now about what might never happen.

The Newcastle foodbank is already seeing it happen though. Donations of tinned and dried goods are down massively as they feel that people who would normally donate such things may be stockpiling them for their own use.

I'm sorry that is happening, gbob.

Yes, I am too Baggs but it just goes to show what scaremongering of this kind can do.

But food is already going to waste because there’s noone to pick it.

Some food can’t yet be picked automatically- plus can all this automation be in place in a few months time?

I agree that we should not 'worry' about what has not yet or might never happen. However I feel it is eminently sensible to look at all possible scenarios. To listen to those in the know and the fears of those who will be affected one way or another and use that information to direct discussions & decisions that will least disadvantsge the majority.

If only the idiots would stop stockpiling tbere would never be any real shortages!Real or imagined.

Exactly lemon but it seems that some "idiots" are already doing so..... "I'm alright Jack"

Chewbacca thought I had already posted this but this the recipe I use for preserving lemons. www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/preserved-lemons-231570

Some ideas of stuff to do with them (I swap them in for fresh a lot of the time, lovely deeper flavour, they are a godsend in a slow cooker dish)

www.seriouseats.com/2016/04/preserved-lemons-salt-cured-canning.html

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/dec/05/preserved-lemon-recipes-batch-cooking-get-ahead-rosie-birkett

gillybob Wed 01-Aug-18 11:59:09
I'm sorry to hear that is happening already gillybob

It was a scenario that I was imagining could happen later on as we neared B-Day but not already.

I hope some of it goes out of date before the stockpilers can eat it.

Some food can’t yet be picked automatically- plus can all this automation be in place in a few months time?

No, probably not. But you weren't supposed to take what I said so entirely literally. Sorry if my tongue in cheek wasn't obvious ?

But food is already going to waste because there’s noone to pick it.

Is this actually true?

Yes
www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/environment/2018/feb/09/lack-of-migrant-workers-left-food-rotting-in-uk-fields-last-year-data-reveals

Well, I shall raid a few French supermarkets while we're there in a few weeks time. Then no-one can accuse me of depriving UK foodbanks of supplies

Thanks, ct. But that was last year.

I wonder why there is/was a shortage of strawberry (etc) pickers? One of my DDs did this work while she was a student. Are there a lot more temporary/seasonal jobs nowadays than there were fifteen years ago?

I couldn't find anything really up to date but this article is from June 2018:

www.morningadvertiser.co.uk/Article/2018/06/20/Seasonal-workers-shortage-who-will-pick-our-fresh-produce

Sorry, the site wouldn't let me copy the text.

There’s a report in this years Ft but it’s behind a paywall. Things haven’t got better since last year!

Dijon mustard please MaizieD, if you're shopping.

I will swap for Cretan honey - what's the going rate?

Are there a lot more temporary/seasonal jobs nowadays than there were fifteen years ago?
I think that there are a lot more soft fruit farms than there were 15 years ago, particularly strawberry farms.
Someone who has been on our news a few times has a strawberry farm and she is very concerned about the prospects of labour shortages.

Grandad 1943

Thank you for your reply , Tue 31-Jul-18 07:37:07 in response to my post of.Mon 30-Jul-18 23:06:47 but I think you and I may not see eye to eye on the effects the European Posted Workers Directive ., not only the problems in the UK but in other EU countries too----

www.france24.com/en/20171023-eu-luxembourg-french-president-emmanuel-macron-posted-workers-directive-reforms

" 1996 EU directive stipulates that posted workers are entitled to the minimum wage of the host country. Unlike EU citizens who move to another member state to seek employment (and are entitled to the same working conditions as nationals within that country), posted workers do not integrate into the other country’s labour market, and their taxes and social charges are paid in their home nations.

This system has raised the issue of "social dumping", which allows foreign service providers to undercut local competitors because their labour standards are lower. Similarly, rules on bonuses, luncheon vouchers and extra pay (such as the 13th month in France) are not homogenous across Europe."
-
I have tired somewhat of the Brexit threads that have gone around and around in circles over ' the years' and I admit I have not followed the current news on the EUPWD but that is of little consequence because the damage has been done over many years that has seen the undercutting of wages, lack of employment opportunities for local workers, replacement of local workers by EU nationals who were recruited and employed in their home countries to work in another country , ' Social Dumping'.

I dislike the term 'Social Dumping' but I don't deny this is the term used by many who realised the problems for the national workforce and certainly those who lost their jobs / the opportunity to work locally because of it. As I mentioned I have seen this for myself and know of friends and family, some of whom were HGV drivers, who lost long standing jobs or took reduced pay under new contracts. When the PWD came into force the arena changed for many in employment , we knew it/felt it at the time. The years have mellowed feelings somewhat but to a degree that was down to the 'what can you do about it' syndrome.

Putting to one side the bigoted jibes of xenophobic/racist/lack of intellect levelled at Leave voters I think the employment position over the years ' in part ' set the seal for Brexit many years ago in the Labour heartlands who were affected possibly most.

By the way I was born in a Somerset village on the 'rhines' just outside of Street/Glastonbury and we use the term ' 'Moors ' or ' Levels'. usually. I wonder if my relatives are bulk buying in Tesco / Lidl / Morrison's out of worry?

Out of interest my father ' was ' a staunch Union man . He was a Works Convenor/Union Rep for many years but like many the days of the Trotskyist Militant Tendency and the likes of Red Robbo caused him to give it up.