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Fruit pickers pick apples in an orchard on a farm in Egerton, U.K.

Fruit pickers pick apples in an orchard on a farm in Egerton, U.K.

Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg
Business

Your Food Prices Are at Risk as the World Runs Short of Workers

Whether it’s fruit pickers, slaughterhouse workers, truckers or waiters, the world’s food ecosystem is buckling due to a shortage of staff.

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Across the world, a dearth of workers is shaking up food supply chains. 

In Vietnam, the army is assisting with the rice harvest. In the U.K., farmers are dumping milk because there are no truckers to collect it. Brazil’s robusta coffee beans took 120 days to reap this year, rather than the usual 90. And American meatpackers are trying to lure new employees with Apple Watches while fast-food chains raise the prices of burgers and burritos.