Christmas turkey shortage imminent in UK, this is why
UK, likely, will experience Christmas turkey shortage. This is because large poultry farmers will not have as many labourers as they require to process birds.
The manpower shortage is one of the fallouts of Brexit, which saw the UK exiting the European Union.
Kate Martin, chairwoman of the Traditional Farm Fresh Turkey Association, told the BBC turkey might be off the shelves in many supermarkets in the country.
She also said some big producers have scaled back because they assumed they would not have enough staff to process birds. While they do, orders for Christmas turkeys are increasing.
“This year it’s looking like there is a national shortage of turkeys when we’re talking about supermarket shelves, rather than buying direct from your farm”, she said.
“It is the supermarket shelves that will be emptier of turkeys this year than they have been before, only because there have been less turkeys placed on the ground; only because the big processers know that they will not get them processed.”
The government has announced a visa scheme to allow 5,500 poultry workers into the UK on three-month contracts.
As part of the changes, 5,000 HGV drivers will be allowed into the UK on similar contracts in an attempt to keep supermarket shelves stocked and petrol stations supplied with fuel.
She said some members of her association had already seen a rise in orders, with one reportedly seeing a 400% increase on last year.
Ms Martin said farms “are now missing a whole host of their workforce that they have been training and investing in over the last however many years.
“Those workers are no longer available for us to use on a seasonal basis – they will go find work in mainland Europe instead.”
The British Poultry Council has estimated there are nearly 7,000 vacancies across the sector, leading some chicken producers to cut their output, and sparking shortages at restaurant chains Nando’s and KFC.
