Due to the corona measures, many seasonal workers from, for example, Poland do not come to the Netherlands. This is bad news for asparagus growers and strawberry growers, among others, who start harvesting around this time.
“I am hesitant about that,” says Koen-Jos Berns, an asparagus grower in Milsbeek. Of the fifteen seasonal workers who normally come to harvest, about ten are in Poland, and they cannot leave there. “The borders to Germany are almost closed,” says Berns.
A few workers are still with him in Milsbeek. They would actually go back to Poland, but that is not easy either. “They will stay here for the time being, and can help. At least that’s something,” says Berns.
Great uncertainty
Berns is not alone in those concerns. “The situation is quite dire,” says Yvonne van de Ven of LTO Arbeidskracht, which arranges matters concerning seasonal work by migrant workers in agriculture and horticulture.
“The season is starting and we don’t know if people are really coming,” says Van de Ven. “People from Poland are afraid to travel to the Netherlands, because there is more corona here. And traveling is quite difficult because of the border controls.”
LTO Arbeidskracht has created a platform, called ‘help us harvest’, to link jobseekers to farmers who are short of hands. “Many people are now also out of work, such as the catering industry. For example, we are trying to reduce the staff shortage in the agricultural sector,” says Van de Ven.
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