Changes in berry picking in Finland

Employment relationship for foreign berry pickers

Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland decided in March 2024 that Thai berry pickers won’t no longer be granted tourist visas. Berry pickers must be employed and they will need an official working permit. Employment model will remarkably raise the costs for berry companies, but will also secure the working conditions for the pickers. The authorities align that using tourist visas for berry pickers from outside EU won’t be possible in the future either.

Currently it seems that there would be 1000-1500 Thai pickers coming to Finland for this harvest season. In 2023 the amount was appr. 2000 pickers and in 2022 appr. 4000 pickers.

Also in Sweden the amount of pickers will be much smaller than in 2023. Currently there’s 2207 working permit applications pending for summer 2024. No working permits have been granted yet. In 2023 there were 5372 pickers in Sweden.

Latest years about 80-90% of Finnish and Swedish wild berry crops have been picked by Thai pickers. It remains to be seen, how many pickers would eventually come from other EU countries or Schengen area. Smaller amounts of pickers will definitely make the picked amount of Finnish and Swedish berries smaller, even though this was an excellent harvest year. At this point it is too early to evaluate the harvest 2024.

New era of berry picking

Finnish authorities find it important to renew the legislation related to foreign berry pickers. More regulation will be needed to protect especially berry pickers coming from 3^rd countries like Thailand. The press release by The Ministry of Economic Affairs on 15^th May states that in the future companies must employ pickers in a contractual employment relationship under the same conditions like any seasonal workers within agriculture.

Everyman’s Rights will remain and it is possible that tourist berry pickers will come from EU or Schengen area, as long as the general requirements for entry into Finland are met. It is still allowed to pick berries for commercial and industrial use without being employed. Majority of the pickers from 3^rd countries will, however, be employed under the conditions of Seasonal Workers Act and Decree in the future.

For berry companies moving into employment model means higher costs and pressure to increase prices for wild berries. The profitability of the berry companies has weakened last years and the employment model in berry sourcing creates new challenges to running profitable business, if higher purchase cost cannot be transferred to end products.

According to the press release by The Ministry of Economic Affairs new regulation must be developed through the end of the year. The final model for future berry picking will be available for harvest season 2025. Experience from summer 2024 will be available for developing the new model.