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Farming Today: 15/07/2010

15/07/2010

BBC Radio 4 - Farming Today, 15/07/2010

Charlotte Smith experiences life as a migrant worker on a fruit farm.

Charlotte Smith becomes a seasonal worker on a fruit farm. By living in a caravan, picking and packing fruit, the Farming Today team experience the life of a migrant worker.

Charlotte Smith samples life as a residential worker on a fruit farm. 650,000 tonnes of strawberries are picked in the UK each year, but very few by British workers. Each year, more than 21,000 workers from Romania and Bulgaria alone travel to the UK for seasonal agricultural work. For the next few days, by living in a caravan, picking and packing fruit, Farming Today explores the migrant worker experience.

Today, the Farming Today team take to the fields and polytunnels, get lessons in picking fruit and get tagged to see how their work rate compares with their new colleagues. The fruit from this Herefordshire farm ends up on the supermarket shelves, and today it's followed on its journey from the fields to the wholesalers.

Presenter: Charlotte Smith. Producer: Melvin Rickarby.

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