**Growers' ability to obtain the large seasonal (75,000 strong)(5) workforce to harvest field vegetables has been severely impacted by Covid-19, Brexit and declining migrant worker availability across Europe(10).**

**Domestic labour ('Pick for Britain') cannot replace the need(11). As price takers with low margins, growers cannot profitably offer higher wages(12).**

**This has become a national crisis that threatens the UK food system's resilience more than any other single challenge(60).**

"Unprecedented labour shortages have left hundreds of tonnes of produce rotting in the fields" Financial Times (57,22)

'Labour availability is very tight \[...\] we could have done extra volume \[with more workers\]' (George Read, Staples Vegetables UK)

'If we can't get enough people, ...we don't have a business! \[...\] Imports carry a higher carbon footprint and we cannot fully control provenance and growing practices.' (John Chinn, Cobrey Farms)

'Labour shortage for harvesting is our greatest current concern, forcing us to significantly reduce our future cultivation of crops like courgettes. Harvest automation is the only viable solution for our profitability, keep operating in England, and **2025 Net Zero aims(14)** ''. Barfoots of Botley, major UK Courgette grower.

A narrowing wage gap between Eastern Europe and the UK (BBC Farming today 26.10.2021: Monthly labour costs in Romania have tripled from £300 to £1000); **Covid-19** and Brexit have changed labour **market dynamics**, with a 30% **shortfall in 2020(13) resulting in wasted crops.**

**The Association of Labour Providers: 'staff shortages in the food supply chain are unprecedented, bleak, and ongoing. 99% of labour providers couldn't meet needs for workers in the last 3 months, and 75% will not be able to meet demand in the run-up to Christmas'.** (61)

This project is an important step on MM's journey to develop a completely novel class of agricultural machine that can reliably replace manual labour to address the needs of UK growers. MM already has built and successfully field-tested an autonomous asparagus harvest robot whose platform can be used in this project. Courgettes present more complex challenges for imaging, software and in particular the gripping mechanism which will need to twist the courgettes off the plant rather than cut at ground level.