The price of fruit and vegetables

is apparently set to rise even further. This time, so we are being told, it is because growers cannot get workers to pick the crops.

Like many other "developed" countries Downunder brings in seasonal workers to do the work that local people apparently do not want to do. There are good reasons for this. The work is hard and the pay is low, the accommodation and amenities are "basic".  It can also be lonely if you don't know your fellow employees. 

Middle Cat once spent a summer strawberry picking in the hills behind us. It was back breaking work. She needed the money so she signed on and she stayed for the entire eight weeks they wanted her there. It was a job designed for students before they brought in cheap labour from overseas. The job wasn't fun and some people didn't last but it was also something she could add to her "cv" (curriculum vitae) .  Now it seems that even that does not encourage students to head for the hills and help.

Of course there are demands that people should be paid more to do this sort of work. There are cries of "they don't even get the basic wage". No, they usually get paid on the amount they pick. The faster they work the more they will get. There is a good reason for this. The grower or farmer is getting paid by the bin or box too. 

And growers and farmers are not getting much either. They have all the expenses and they are taking all the risks but they don't set the price they will get. The market sets that. Supermarkets, particularly the big chains, have buying power. "You want X dollars for your bin of apricots? Well I can get them from your neighbour for Y dollars and that is going to save me Z dollars. That means I can sell the apricots to shoppers and still make a (hefty) profit." Then we come to the point of "how much are shoppers prepared to pay?" How many people will go for the cheapest and still complain about the price they have to pay?

How many of us think of all this when we pick out fruit and vegetables? I try to - just as I try to remember what hard work dairying is rather than simply take a container of milk from the shelf in the refrigerated area. 

I think we could do more, much more, to encourage local people to work in such areas. It would take a bit of flexibility though - and I am not sure we have realised that yet.