Berry industry groups are furious about the last-minute rejection of foreign pickers' visa applications. They say it's impossible to replace them with domestic workers.A Thai harvester at work in Kuusamo, northern Finland (file photo). Image: Janne Järvinen / YleYle News11:28Berry companies warn that most of this year’s crop of wild berries will remain unpicked in the forests this summer because of a lack of workers to harvest them.The Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that it has rejected nearly two-thirds of foreign workers’ visa applications for this wild berry harvesting season, largely due to recent revelations of exploitation by Finnish companies in the sector. For example, last month a former berry firm boss was sentenced to prison for human trafficking.Approximately 2,200 seasonal work applications have been received, of which 1,400 have been turned down so far. Most of the applications have been processed at the Finnish Embassy in Bangkok, Thailand.Birgitta Partanen, executive director of the natural products industry group Arctic Aromas, says the industry is outraged by the matter. She describes the situation as a crisis."It seems completely incomprehensible that there have been so few positive visa decisions. This season is going to be really difficult, and at least a few companies are going to shut down," she predicts.Price increases inevitablePartanen accuses the ministry of behaving irresponsibly, saying that there was no way the industry could have anticipated the labour shortfall in time."The risk of exploitation of an employed berry picker is negligible compared to the harm that delayed processing and negative decisions cause to the entire berry chain, not to mention the pickers themselves," Partanen argues.Kristel Nybondas, Managing Director of the Federation of Agricultural Employers MTA, agrees, saying that authorities could have announced their decisions much earlier.Berry entrepreneurs have already appealed to administrative courts this summer due to the negative decisions.According to Nybondas, it is clear that berry prices will rise."Yes, the berries will remain in the forest; there’s no time to organise any other alternative. There aren’t enough hands to do this job. These harsh refusals will not solve the problems, but rather may even increase them," she tells Yle.Arto Aholainen, CEO of Karelian Maukkaat Marjat, based in Leppävirta, North Savo, agrees that prices will rise due a shortage of supply."No one will come to pick those berries," he says.Direct sales via social media likelyThe situation is difficult for companies in the berry industry. Janne Piikivi, CEO of Kiantama, which operates in Northern Finland, says that there have been indications of refusal decisions, so the matter did not come as a complete surprise."It would be a shame if the berries are left in the forest," he says."We’ll see the number of final visa decisions once all the applications have been processed. We hope that Finns will go to the forest themselves to pick berries for the market," Piikivi says.According to forecasts, this year’s harvest looks relatively good, so people in Finland have a chance to start collecting berries themselves – or even to sell for industrial use.Partanen predicts that people will begin selling fresh berries to consumers via social media, but that supplies of frozen berries may become scarce later.