More than you can chew
贪多
How farmers cope with shortages of workers
英国农场主是如何应对民工荒的
And why strawberries have become as big as plums
为什么草莓果长成了李子般大小
BOXFORD FARMS, on the border between Essex and Suffolk, is one of Britain’s best fruit growers (with the awards to prove it). Because the 140-hectare farm grows so many different things, from rhubarb to strawberries to blueberries to apples, it can offer migrant labourers six to nine months of work a year. It pays all of its 250-odd fruit pickers at least the national minimum wage; the fastest earn substantially more. And still it struggles to find people.
据英国《经济学人》网站10月18日的消息：博克斯福德农场位于埃塞克斯和萨福克的交界处，是英国最好的水果种植园之一（这个说法可由其获得过的奖项来证明）。这个面积为148公顷的农场内种植着各类东西，有大黄，草莓，蓝莓，还有苹果，每年可以为移民劳工提供6到9个月的工作时间。博克斯福德农场支付250余名水果采摘工的薪酬至少达到了英国的最低工资水平，而且水果采收最快的劳工赚取的薪酬还要更多。尽管如此，它仍在苦苦寻找劳工。
The Britons who made up a hefty slice of the fruit-picking labour force as late as the 1990s are gone. The Polish workers who were so plentiful a decade ago, when Britain opened its job market to eastern Europeans, have mostly moved on to easier jobs. Almost all the pickers at Boxford Farms are now Bulgarian or Romanian. And even they seem less plentiful than they were. “It’s a small population, and it’s shrinking,” says Robert Rendall, the managing director.
20世纪90年代末，在该农场水果采摘劳工中占有相当一部分的英国人已不复存在。10年前，在英国向东欧开放工作市场的时候，有大量波兰人在这里工作，现在他们中的大多数人已转向从事更为轻松的工作。现在，博克斯福德农场几乎所有的采摘工人都是保加利亚人或罗马尼亚人，但显然，劳工数量也远不如从前。博克斯福德农场的总经理罗伯特·伦德尔（Robert Rendall）表示：“这个员工数量很少了，而且人数还在不断下降。”
In September Britain’s government promised to allow in some seasonal farm workers from outside the EU. In the meantime, what is a grower to do? In the packing houses where Boxford Farms processes fruit, the answer is mechanisation. Mr Rendall has bought machines that can detect bruises on apples and measure berries into whatever kind of container Britain’s picky supermarkets desire. In his polytunnels and greenhouses, strawberry plants grow in trays at waist level, making the plants much easier and faster to pick.
9月份，英国政府承诺接收来自欧盟外部的季节性农场工人。与此同时，种植园农场主又采取了什么措施呢？在博克斯福德农场处理水果的包装房内，答案是机械化。伦德尔已配备了大量机器，用来监测苹果上的碰伤和测量要装入英国挑剔超市所指定的各类容器的浆果类水果。在他的塑料大棚和温室里，草莓种植在齐腰的托盘内，方便工人更容易和更快捷采摘。
But the big answer lies in the fruit itself. Mr Rendall has turned to varieties of strawberry such as Amesti, created by Driscoll’s, a soft-fruit titan. These varieties do not necessarily produce more fruit over a season than other ones. But, crucially, the berries are larger. So a migrant fruit picker can pick a greater mass of strawberry with each muscle movement. If you ever wonder why strawberries are now as large as plums used to be, the tight labour market is the reason.
但是最大的问题还在于水果本身。伦德尔开始转向尝试其他品种的草莓，比如浆果巨头Driscoll’s研发的Amesti草莓。这些品种并不一定会比其他的品种长出更多的果实。但关键是，这些品种的果实更大个。这样，移民劳工每次的体力劳动可以采摘到更多数量的草莓。如果你曾疑惑过为什么现在的草莓果长成了以往李子般大小，原因就在于吃紧的劳动力市场。（译：张诗怡）
https://www.economist.com/international/2018/10/20/how-farmers-cope-with-shortages-of-workers
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