Fruit Focus Olins Maurel Gibbons Gray

L-r: BSF's Laurence Olins, Concordia's Stephanie Maurel and Hayley Campbell-Gibbons and Amy Gray of the NFU

Growers are considering the “nuclear” option of dumping tonnes of fruit outside Downing Street should the government fail to act over looming seasonal labour shortages.

The issue was raised at an NFU forum at Fruit Focus this week, where growers voiced their frustration at the lack of movement on getting a new seasonal workers’ permit scheme as Britain’s exit from the EU looms.

Speaking at the event, NFU horticulture adviser Amy Gray said the industry needed 80,000 seasonal workers to meet its needs, but a survey of members revealed a 16.7 per cent shortage in May and 14.3 per cent in June. There are similar problems around returnees, with January’s 65 per cent return rate falling to just 31 per cent in June.

The problem is understood to be particularly pronounced in Scotland, and on strawberries.

Laurence Olins, chairman of British Summer Fruits, said a collaborative push by industry bodies BSF, the NFU, FPC and British Growers had made an impact and Defra now “gets the message”, but warned the issue was increasingly with the Home Office and Downing Street. “That’s where we have to focus our attention.”

Grower Anthony Snell urged a return to a permit scheme, describing the move as a “no brainer” for government that would give it complete control of migrant movements.

Olins warned of a pivotal moment of February 2018, by which time a new scheme needs to be agreed in order for it be in place by September of that year. “So if they are not working on a scheme for us in February 2018 that’s the litmus test,” he said.

A straw poll of growers in the audience revealed at least a dozen who said they were putting investment decisions on hold or reconsidering their plans for 2018. Several even suggested the industry needed to capture the government and public’s attention with a high-profile stunt such as dumping a lorry load of fruit outside Downing Street to highlight their plight. “If we were French, that’s what we’d do,” one argued.

“The Achilles heel of government is the consumer, because that’s the electorate,” said Olins. “That’s where the pressure can come from. There will be a time to dump strawberries – not now, but in a year’s time if there’s been no progress on a scheme.”

Farming minister George Eustice responded to FPJ when pressed on the labour issue - click here to hear what he said.

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