News of the week in plain Finnish | Saturday 25.7.2026

Berry pickers left without visas

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Only a few berry pickers from abroad are coming to Finland this year. The berry pickers cannot come because they did not receive a visa to Finland.

Now we will tell you more about it.

Human trafficking risk prevented visas

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Only a little over a hundred Thai berry pickers received visas to Finland this summer. Photo: Janne Järvinen / Yle

There are only a few foreign berry pickers in Finnish forests this summer. In Thailand, about 2,200 pickers applied for visas to Finland, but the Finnish embassy in Bangkok rejected most of the applications.

Only 123 pickers received visas. They will arrive in Finland by the end of July.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs says that each visa was carefully considered. The risk of human trafficking was one of the reasons for negative visa decisions. There have already been 2 convictions in Finland for human trafficking of Thai berry pickers.

The price of berries is rising

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Due to a shortage of pickers, blueberries will remain in the forest this summer, say berry companies. Photo: Marianne Mattila / Yle

The fact that Thai pickers stay home is a disaster for Finnish berry companies.

Berry companies say that blueberries and other wild berries are now being left in the forest because there are not enough pickers. A few companies may also have to close down operations.

The shortage of pickers is also driving up the price of domestic berries, while stores are forced to sell more and more frozen foreign berries.

Unemployed youth in the berry

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Minister of Finance Riikka Purra. Photo: Birgitta Vuorela / Yle

Minister of Finance Riikka Purra defends Finland’s strict visa policy. She wonders why berry pickers from abroad need to be brought into Finnish forests when, at the same time, there are many unemployed young people in Finland.

Working life researcher Anu Järvensivu says that Thai pickers cannot be replaced by young Finnish people. Foreign pickers can work long hours and travel long distances.

Finnish youth are not attracted to hard work. Finnish youth can also sell the berries themselves. They don’t need a company to help them with that, Järvensivu says.

There is a good harvest of wild berries this summer. The berry industry is now hoping that the abundant harvest will inspire Finns to pick berries for industrial needs as well.

Repetition

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A good harvest of wild berries such as blueberries and lingonberries is coming. Photo: Esa Huuhko / Yle

The news of the week in plain Finnish told about wild berries and their pickers. Let’s recap a bit.

Only a little over 100 berry pickers from Thailand will come to Finland this summer.

More than 2,000 pickers were left without visas, for example due to the risk of human trafficking.

Finnish berry companies say that the berries are now left in the forest when there are no pickers.

That’s all for now. See you later!