German farmers suffer shortage of seasonal labor

Source: Xinhua    2018-05-23 02:50:26

BERLIN, May 22 (Xinhua) -- German farmers are increasingly suffering from a shortage of seasonal workers who traditionally come from eastern Europe during harvest periods, the German Association of Agricultural Employers (GLFA) warned on Tuesday.

GLFA president Burkhard Moeller told press that strong economic growth in countries like Romania and Poland also meant that fewer people were attracted by the prospect of short-term jobs in German agriculture. "Looking forward, we see problems," Moeller said.

In 2016, a total of 286,000 seasonal migrants came to Germany to assist farmers during the harvest of popular consumer crops such as strawberries, asparagus and grapes.

In order to prevent resulting logistical bottlenecks from posing a threat to agricultural production the future, the GLFA demanded easier access to seasonal labor in the war-torn country of Ukraine.

Unlike Romania and Poland, Ukraine is neither a member of the European Union (EU) nor the Schengen free travel zone.

As a consequence, Germany would have to sign a formal agreement on a bilateral economic partnership with Ukraine in order to open up its agricultural labor market to local citizens.

Responding to the GLFA's suggestion on Tuesday, the German ministry for agriculture noted that in the past there had been a sufficient supply of seasonal labor from other EU member states.

The ministry confirmed, however, that there were growing signs that better economic conditions in Eastern European were reducing the flow of harvest workers to Germany.

The ministry highlighted that a pilot project was already underway which enabled farmers to hire harvesting workers from the Western Balkans until the year 2020. If the model proved successful, Ukraine could be another "possible partner" in similar agreements with non-EU countries.

Moeller predicted that, the number of seasonal workers in 2018 could fall slightly below the level witnessed in Germany during previous years.

Aside from a lack of interest on behalf of Romanian and Polish migrants, this trend also owed to a newly-introduced minimum wage in agriculture which was leading farmers to mechanize a greater share of their operations.

Editor: yan
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German farmers suffer shortage of seasonal labor

Source: Xinhua 2018-05-23 02:50:26

BERLIN, May 22 (Xinhua) -- German farmers are increasingly suffering from a shortage of seasonal workers who traditionally come from eastern Europe during harvest periods, the German Association of Agricultural Employers (GLFA) warned on Tuesday.

GLFA president Burkhard Moeller told press that strong economic growth in countries like Romania and Poland also meant that fewer people were attracted by the prospect of short-term jobs in German agriculture. "Looking forward, we see problems," Moeller said.

In 2016, a total of 286,000 seasonal migrants came to Germany to assist farmers during the harvest of popular consumer crops such as strawberries, asparagus and grapes.

In order to prevent resulting logistical bottlenecks from posing a threat to agricultural production the future, the GLFA demanded easier access to seasonal labor in the war-torn country of Ukraine.

Unlike Romania and Poland, Ukraine is neither a member of the European Union (EU) nor the Schengen free travel zone.

As a consequence, Germany would have to sign a formal agreement on a bilateral economic partnership with Ukraine in order to open up its agricultural labor market to local citizens.

Responding to the GLFA's suggestion on Tuesday, the German ministry for agriculture noted that in the past there had been a sufficient supply of seasonal labor from other EU member states.

The ministry confirmed, however, that there were growing signs that better economic conditions in Eastern European were reducing the flow of harvest workers to Germany.

The ministry highlighted that a pilot project was already underway which enabled farmers to hire harvesting workers from the Western Balkans until the year 2020. If the model proved successful, Ukraine could be another "possible partner" in similar agreements with non-EU countries.

Moeller predicted that, the number of seasonal workers in 2018 could fall slightly below the level witnessed in Germany during previous years.

Aside from a lack of interest on behalf of Romanian and Polish migrants, this trend also owed to a newly-introduced minimum wage in agriculture which was leading farmers to mechanize a greater share of their operations.

[Editor: huaxia]
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