THERE is much being reported about the significant shortfall of labour to harvest fruit and vegetables this summer.
Make no mistake, the need to fly in seasonal labour from abroad is the consequence of the greed of farmers seeking more and more acres, the public financial support that goes with these acres, and a whole lot of highly misleading nonsense about needing to import workers to do the work that locals are not prepared to do.
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Go back a few generations and we all came from the countryside, were kicked off one way or another by lairds and the relentless greed of other farmers, ironically, though deliberately in post-war years, all grasping the subsidies allegedly for family farmers.
Who wouldn’t welcome the opportunity of ownership of a house in the countryside with a few acres down the fertile east coast of Scotland on which to grow appropriate fruit and vegetables and a summer refuge for family and friends to stay and help in the production of our wonderful Scottish foods we keep hearing about?
We need radical change to the way our countryside is owned, managed, lived on and worked if we are ever to achieve food security. Reliance on the import of seasonal labour is no cure but simply delays ultimate disaster.
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Picking up on George Kerevan’s excellent article on the economic challenges ahead (FM needs radical thinkers around her for the economic challenges ahead, April 20), perhaps more importantly and of greater urgency we need a radical change to the thoughts and minds contributing to government policy for agriculture, food and the countryside, a fundamental and key area of the economy most essential for our very survival.
Use our countryside to the maximum benefit of us all, and all other business will find its appropriate position on scale of importance.
Tom Gray
Braco
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