Berry farms in the Suonenjoki area could lose tens of thousands of kilos of strawberries and raspberries because of a lack of pickers.
Work is available for at least 100 pickers for a full month. The strawberry harvest is lasting another week, and raspberries are expected to be ripe for picking until the end of August.
Executive directorIlkka Voutilainen of the Berry Growers’ Association of the Suonenjoki Region says that work is available immediately, either through the association, or through employment offices.
On Wednesday, Voutilainen was contacted by only three people interested in picking work.
The reason for the labour shortage is that the berry season is late this year, extending beyond early August. The berries have ripened slowly, owing to the cool summer. Most of the Finnish pickers are going back to school, and the foreign pickers have gone home.
More than 3,000 seasonal workers were bringing in the berry crop in Suonenjoki this year. Now only about half as many are working in the fields.
