Academic discusses effect of rising labour and energy costs on farms in BBC interview

Rising labour and energy costs are leading farms to either look for migrant workers from new countries or to examine automation, a Harper Adams academic has told the BBC.

Director of the Fresh Produce Research Centre at the University, Professor Jim Monaghan, was asked to talk about the issue by BBC researchers after remarks by the Confederation of British Industry’s director-general Tony Danker last week.

Professor Monaghan explained that lettuce, vegetable and soft fruit farms of the kind found in Shropshire would require hundreds of workers to harvest their crops – but a combination of factors, including the covid pandemic, Brexit, and the conflict in Ukraine were all affecting the issue.

Read more on the BBC website here.