Chamber and committees

We will move on to questions on automation, health and food from Rachael Hamilton.

Yes. Please give your comments, then we will move on.

I congratulate Beatrice on her appointment.

Geoff Ogle, do you have any comments on processing capacity?

I thank you all for your introductions. We move to questions from members, starting with Mercedes Villalba, who has a question on access to labour in the food and drink supply chain.

James Withers has touched on the particular example of the issues with broccoli and cauliflower, which I think have been exacerbated by the crops all ripening at the same time. The nature of the seasonal facts this year means that those crops are becoming ripe at the same time as the pea industry is trying to freeze peas and so on. He was right earlier when he mentioned it being a perfect storm.

I am interested in the workforce argument. Brexit will certainly have played its part. However, Covid will probably have played an even greater part, with threats of lockdown meaning that some overseas workers are leaving to go home and not return until it is clear exactly where we are with Covid. In addition, we have an ageing workforce. One of the main issues is that we do not have the proper people to do the jobs—I know of examples of that. With the shortage of workers, people earn their pot of money far more quickly because of the availability of overtime and they leave the job mid-season, which adds more pressure.

That is not a new problem; there have been issues with workers for quite some time. As we move forward, what plans should we look at to ensure that we have the workforce in the long term? Putting aside the various serious issues with the workforce right now, how can we ensure that we have a workforce that is trained to meet the industry’s future requirements?

I wonder whether Pete Cheema and John Lee have any comments on the matter.

As a supplementary to that, I believe that, when small consignments were sent as part of groupage, individual costs were a real barrier. Do you see that situation being addressed and the cost barrier being removed any time soon?

We will move on to the topic of local food economies.

Thank you. We move on to Professor Mary Brennan.