300 jobs to go at strawberry firm

11:00am Thursday 17th July 2008

Comments (1)   Have your say »

ONE of Herefordshire’s largest strawberry growers is to make 300 migrant workers redundant.

S&A Davies says a poor crop is to blame, caused by cold weather earlier in the year and “a deluge of wind and rain”.

Rebecca Edmonds, for S&A, said the yield was about 2,000 tonnes down on last year and that the crop was now over its peak.

“Due to limitations on the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme (SAWS) and last year’s poor yield, we started with less workers than last year, with 2,400 at peak time as opposed to 3,200,” she said.

“We are looking at laying off just over 300 workers and have contacted every SAWS operator in the country to see if we can find them alternative work.

For full story see today's Hereford Times.