Finnish farmers fear that they may lose much of their strawberry harvest this year owing to a lack of labourers. In North Karelia, the main strawberry variety, known as Polka, ripens at the end of this week. Yet most foreign pickers are not scheduled to arrive until early or mid-July.
“Foreign berry pickers won’t get their work permits in order until the beginning of July, and there are too few pickers available this week," says Ismo Ruutiainen, chairman of the North Karelia berry farmers' board. "In hot weather, berry picking should be done continuously and if we miss out, the berries will over-ripen and rot quickly.”
In North Karelia, there are approximately 100 farms which employ about 1,500 to 2,000 pickers. Most come from Eastern European countries.