The NFU is calling on government to trial a seasonal workers scheme next year to resolve what she called “an emerging crisis” in fresh produce recruitment.
The horticulture sector, including fruit, veg plants and flowers, has employed 80,000 people this year to pick, harvest and pack its products, but as the industry grows, the NFU estimates that 95,000 will be needed by 2021.
The NFU horticulture board chairman Ali Capper is concerned that Brexit has already harmed the industry by discouraging seasonal workers from coming to the UK, and she has been “bombarded” with reports from growers struggling to recruit enough staff.
“What we want now is for a substantial trial of the scheme next year that will allow us to bring workers from outside the EU into the sector,” she said.
“The reason that we need that trial urgently – and it has to be next year – is that Brexit has had unfortunate results. The message it has sent out into the EU, combined with the sliding sterling has meant that in the latter part of the season, workers that would have come here are now choosing to go elsewhere. We have a bit of a crisis emerging.”
Capper revealed that NFU members, including recruitment firm Fruitful Jobs, are already facing a shortfall of seasonal workers. The Herefordshire-based company would normally see a 25 per cent drop off in recruitment at its Bulgarian office in July. This July that has risen to 70 per cent.
Similarly Concordia has told the NFU that for the first year in eight it has struggled to fill places, with numerous other businesses giving accounts of seasonal workers either leaving or not showing up in the first place.
Capper says the trial is needed next year in preparation for the possibility of there being full restriction of movement by 2019. She also anticipates a steep decline in worker numbers next year if it is not introduced.
“If we don’t have that trial next year, we risk fruit and veg going rotten in the fields because the workers won’t come,” she said. “I think we’ll see a much greater decline next year in the numbers.
“I am hoping that the government will be pragmatic and that common sense will prevail.'
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