A turkey farmer has suggested suppliers will run out of the birds before Christmas.
Kate Martin, chairwoman of the Traditional Farm Fresh Turkey Association, said: “This year it’s looking like there is a national shortage of turkeys when we’re talking about supermarket shelves, rather than buying direct from your farm.
“It is the supermarket shelves that will be emptier on turkeys this year than they have been before, only because there have been less turkeys placed on the ground, only because the big processers know that they will not get them processed.”
Asked whether supermarkets will run out of turkeys before Christmas, she said: “I think everyone needs to get their orders in very quickly.
“We have seen an absolutely unprecedented number of orders come in.
“Come Christmas, if you leave ordering your turkey from your local farm supplier, you are going to be out of luck.”
Asked whether Brexit was to blame, Mrs Martin said: “For sure it has come from a lack of labour.
“We’re small producers, we use local labour, but for the big processors it is 100% caused by a labour shortage.
“This situation with turkeys is caused by the fact that European labour is no longer available to us, and they are skilled workers who have been coming to us for years.
“People are now missing a whole host of their workforce that they have been training and investing in over the last however many years, and those workers are no longer available for us to use on a seasonal basis – they will go find work on mainland Europe instead.
“We’re an innovative industry and we will get through it but there are less turkeys to be had.”
It comes amid warnings that disruption to festive preparations will be “inevitable” if progress is not made to solve the shortfall of around 90,000 lorry drivers.
Around one in six adults in Britain said they were not able to buy essential food items at some point during the past two weeks due to products not being available, according to a survey by the Office for National Statistics.
Early last month, the British Poultry Council (BPC) warned the industry was facing a significant shortage of workers across farming and processing, with businesses reporting an average vacancy rate of over 16% of their total workforce.
It said the “alarming number of gaps” was continuing to grow due to the effects of Brexit and was “compounded by a Government that continually acts against the best interests of British food producers”.
BPC chief executive Richard Griffiths said at the time: “Members are telling us that many have been forced to cut back weekly chicken production by 5-10%, all year-round turkey production by 10% and estimate Christmas turkey production to be cut down by 20%.
“They are saying they are currently producing a reduced range of products for UK customers, and are seriously concerned that the supply of staple chicken products will be impacted. This is all down to labour shortages.
“UK food security will be hit with a double whammy of food inflation and being forced to rely on more imported food. This can only lead to a two-tier food system where high-quality British food is out of reach for many struggling consumers.
“When the heads of major food companies, and indeed entire food sectors, stand up and say we are in the worst position they have ever seen then it is beholden on our Government to fix this catastrophic debacle of their making.
“If that means relaxing immigration rules or accepting regulatory alignment with the EU, then these are the steps that must be taken to put British food on the road to recovery.”
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