April 13, 2020
Asparagus Adversity
One thing us Germans are really weird about is asparagus. During the yearly asparagus season it feels like that is all we eat, and right now we’re in the middle of it. I’ve never thought about who was responsible for picking it, but as it turns out that those people are almost entirely Polish seasonal workers.
Since the spread of the coronavirus, several countries in the EU have declared nationwide lockdown and have closed their borders, including Poland. And during times like these, most people would rather be locked into their country with their family than be trapped in a foreign country, alone. That being said, the Polish workers left and the Germans are in great need of farm workers, with food rotting in the fields.
Farm Workers harvesting asparagus Photo via express.de
Some farmers have offered double pay to their workers to get them to stay. But not all farmers can afford that, and not all workers are willing to accept. Now, farmers have asked people for help that usually have nothing to do with farming, like office workers who were laid off through the pandemic. But there aren’t nearly enough people willing to do farm-work.
Most significantly, in my opinion, is the agreement made by the German Romanian government, to let 80,000 workers fly from Romania to Germany, in spite of travel restrictions due to COVID-19, to let them work on german farms.
Romanian seasonal workers waiting outside the airport in Cluj, central Romania, to fly to Germany Photo via mercurynews.com
Currently, this subject is quite controversial, given that there are thousands of refugees out there that we aren’t letting into our country, but meanwhile we let in 80,000 others because we can’t manage our own work.
What I realized, at least, is that through this crisis, more people talk about where our food comes from, who works for it, and who we should thank for it. And I hope that is something that will stick even after the pandemic.