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 and 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
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The Huelva region is in the SW of the
country
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The Mediterranean climate means it’s cold
and wet in winter
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Intensive agriculture involves low inputs of
capital and / or labour
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EU countries often find it hard to get people
to do jobs which are dirty, difficult or dull
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They are grown in long plastic tunnels
Well done!
You got it right!!!
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right answer!
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