The price of British strawberries could rise by more than a third if the UK cannot ensure access to European workers after Brexit, farmers have warned.
農民警告，如果英國不能確保歐盟勞工在脫歐後赴英工作的管道，國產草莓的價格可能會飆漲3分之1。
Producers have called on the government to introduce a permit scheme for seasonal workers to ensure that the expansion of soft fruit production in the UK is not brought to a halt.
生產商呼籲政府推行季節性勞工方案，確保英國軟皮無核水果產量的成長不至於中斷。
Farmers say the number of seasonal workers coming to the UK this year has already dropped by 17%, due to the lack of clarity on the future for EU workers in post-Brexit Britain.
農民表示，由於歐盟勞工在英國脫歐後的前景未明，今年來到英國的季節性勞工數量已減少17％。
Farmers also say access to EU workers is vital to sustain the industry, as 9 out of 10 seasonal pickers and packers of British soft fruit currently come from the European Union, primarily Poland, Bulgaria and Romania.
農民還說，引進歐盟勞工對維持產業運作極為重要，因為目前英國軟皮無核水果產業的季節性採摘和包裝工人，10人裡有9人來自以波蘭、保加利亞和羅馬尼亞為主的歐盟國家。
The soft fruit industry is one of the UK’s biggest users of EU seasonal labor as it is harder to mechanize the handling of its delicate and tricky-to-pick produce. These warnings echo those of the wider farming community.
軟皮無核水果產業是英國廣納歐盟季節性勞工的主要產業之一，由於該產業的農產品嬌貴、採摘不易，很難採行機械化作業。上述警告也引起農業領域中更多產業的共鳴。
Source article: http://iservice.ltn.com.tw/Service/english/english.php?engno=1120224&day=2017-07-20