Young Brits were 10 times slower than Eastern Europeans at picking vegetables

Five young Britons have realised that agricultural labour is not an easy way to earn money.

British workers who tried vegetable picking for a day have discovered that it is difficult. They were filmed by the BBC working at a Cornish farm as part of an experiment. It didn't go very well. The girls taking part were told they had to remove their makeup because it would run in the rain, they refused. One went into the tractor after an hour because they had cold hands. Another participant said they would "never" do the job. The 18 to 23-year-olds had to fill 2,000 bags of cabbages to hit their target, a potential total of 10,000 cabbages. The owner Greville Richards said he wants to recruit more British workers because Brexit has made it more difficult to hire people from elsewhere in the EU. [caption id="attachment_161245" align="alignnone" width="1435"] Greville Richards (Credit: BBC)[/caption] The programme illustrated the potential problems with his strategy. Four hours into the challenge the Brits were 10 times slower than the Eastern European workers. Conor Stevens, an 18-year-old music student, told the Inside Out South West programme: "I feel like we have lost these people money by doing this." Things got worse when Cambridge graduate Hettie Burrows, 22, had to take a break after an hour because her hands were too cold. [caption id="attachment_161246" align="alignnone" width="1426"] (Credit: BBC)[/caption] She was told to sit in the tractor and warm up. "Honestly I was in so much pain, but I don’t quit," she said after returning to work. "Like last year I ran two marathons. If I can do that, why can’t I pick cabbages?" The Brits might have been slower, but by the end of the day they did meet their target. Manager Afija Kalpiss said: "I promise, I thought you will give up and now you have finished. You finished what you must do. I am really proud, thank you very much." Inside Out South West is on BBC1 in the South-West tonight at 7.30pm.