A SURVEY into the challenges and experiences faced by everyone working in fruit and vegetable production has been launched by researchers from the University of Bristol.

The survey is open to growers and farmworkers, British and non-British workers, those based across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and conventional and organic producers of all scales of production.

Lead researcher Dr Lydia Medland said: “Growers, workers, seasonal migrant workers and others in the sector are vital for the UK’s food system. If we are to sustain a resilient food and farming sector able to provide healthy food for the population, we need to take note of the experience of those in the sector. This is the purpose of the survey, which in subsequent years will be followed up by in-person qualitative research.”

The survey comes at a time when awareness about the need to reduce carbon emissions is high – and reducing food miles and protecting UK production is one way to do this. This is particularly the case for types of fruit and vegetable that can easily be grown in the UK such as apples and pears, berries and other soft fruit such as plums, as well as a very wide range of vegetables.

This year labour supply has been under great pressure and some growers have had to resort to leaving fruit unpicked or inviting people to ‘pick their own’ at very low cost or even for free.

Dr Medland added: “Seasonal migrant worker quotas increased to 30,000 under the rolling government pilot, yet this pilot scheme has deeply problematic design features, including a risk of exploitation for workers.

“It has also not solved the problem of labour supply for growers with farmers continuing to campaign for the scheme to be expanded. In this context, the survey aims to capture a broad overview of how those working in the sector are faring – both growers and workers.”

Early findings and academic papers will be shared with UK Government departments, including DEFRA. All those who work in growing, picking, packing, preparing or in some other way supporting fruit and vegetable production are invited to complete the survey which can be found at https://spais.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/5-a-day