Australian growers are reducing the size of strawberry crops or not planting at all, out of fear their fruit will rot on the ground due to picker shortages. This, in turn, is expected to hike the prices at the supermarket.
Covid travel restrictions have meant a massive shortfall in farm labor, usually made up of working holidaymakers or backpackers. They pick 80 per cent of fruit in Australia, Queensland Strawberry Growers Association president Adrian Schulz told abc.net.au.
In the Moreton Bay, Sunshine Coast and Bundaberg regions alone, 7,000 people would be needed to harvest the strawberry crop this winter, he said. "There are a lot of farmers who are very worried," he added. "I've already reduced the number of plants we're going to grow by 30 to 35 per cent.”