Fancy a strawberry Where do they come from

Fancy a strawberry?

Where do they come from? • Ever wondered where the strawberries on the supermarket shelves in winter come from? • Not the UK… • The Huelva region in SW Spain cultivates almost all of the UK’s winter strawberries. In fact, 90% of the strawberries grown in Spain are grown here!

Why here? • Why is Spain such a good place to grow strawberries? • Why this part of Spain in particular? Huelva’s climate is classed as ‘Mediterranean’. This means that it gets mild, wet winters and hot dry summers. Long sunshine hours and mild sea breezes make conditions perfect for strawberry growing. The area is called ‘Costa De La Luz’ – the ‘coast of light’

Strawberry growing • Strawberry production started in Huelva about 20 years ago and now supplies Germany, France, Holland Britain, as well as Spain. • 330, 000 tonnes of Strawberries are grown each year. • Strawberries are grown intensively in long plastic tunnels. What is intensive agriculture? Intensive agriculture uses high inputs of capital (money) and / or labour.

Migrant workers • Growing strawberries is very labour intensive, and migrant workers are often employed in seasonal jobs. • Up to 30, 000 ‘guest’ (or migrant) workers have been employed in recent years. • Countries often find it hard to get domestic labour for ‘ 3 D’ jobs – those that are Dirty, Difficult or Dangerous. • Freedom within the EU allows EU residents to work in other EU countries, and schemes like the SAWS (Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme) helps people find seasonal agricultural jobs.

What do you remember? QUESTION TRUE False Most strawberries found in UK supermarkets in winter are grown in France Click here The Huelva region is in the SW of the country Click here The Mediterranean climate means it’s cold and wet in winter Click here Intensive agriculture involves low inputs of capital and / or labour Click here EU countries often find it hard to get people to do jobs which are dirty, difficult or dull Click here They are grown in long plastic tunnels

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