An article on the BBC (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-54712374) caught our attention as it is part of the case for RoboVeg developing its selective, automated vegetable harvester.
In the article NFU highlights that only 11% of seasonal workers were from the UK in 2020, despite the high profile 'Pick for Britain' campaign run during the Summer to attract those affected with loss of earnings, unemployment or furlough during the first UK lockdown in Spring 2020.
Due to increases in National Living Wage, UK labour costs are rising. In recent times much of the seasonal labour force has come from EU countries...but this also is under threat:
Brexit uncertainties
Poor exchange rates
Coronavirus COVID-19 travel restrictions
It is not just UK growers that are facing these challenges. Growers in Poland, Australia and the USA are amongst others reporting similar difficulties.
RoboVeg - Automation for Agriculture
RoboVeg harvesters offer a solution to alleviate the issue around seasonal workers, with a single robot harvesting the same as two people.
Other benefits to growers include:
Reducing labour and wastage costs
Improved uniformity of harvested products will reduce pack-house and logistics costs
The vision system allows day or night harvesting
Night harvesting with lower temperatures will improve shelf-life and product quality
Selective harvesting provides higher crop yields
RoboVeg has the potential to significantly reduce manual labour as it is designed to be operated by one person and run for up to 24 hours per day. Working for long periods with consistency would improve growers’ ability to control production costs.
To find out more about RoboVeg visit our website at www.roboveg.com