It’s becoming quite a well-trodden theme but the fact remains that a shortage of seasonal labour presents perhaps the greatest threat to UK fresh produce in a generation. Although progress has been made in convincing politicians of the importance of the issue, with several reports recommending the need for a seasonal workers’ scheme, government is still refusing to make firm commitments on shoring up labour supply.
Defra secretary Michael Gove refused to announce a seasonal worker scheme at this week’s NFU Conference despite repeated interrogation from the audience and journalists. He may have “acknowledged farmers’ concerns” and described the NFU’s arguments as “compelling”, but policy-wise all the government would allow him to stretch to was: “I hope you can see more shortly”.
One of the main obstacles to a breakthrough on the issue, according to NFU Horticulture Board chairman Ali Capper, has been the high turnover of immigration ministers. The government is now on its third since the referendum, following Caroline Nokes’ appointment in January. “Every time we achieve the required level of understanding, we have a new person to deal with,” she laments. “We really need one person to get hold of it and just sort it out. The government has a window of opportunity now, today.”
Capper is concerned the government appears reluctant to introduce any form of new immigration policy until some agreement on free movement is reached, and progress on that issue has been particularly slow.
One company to have shifted its strategy amid the continuing uncertainty is UK berry grower Haygrove. Last week the producer announced plans to cut 200 seasonal picking jobs and plant 11 per cent less area at its farm in Ledbury, Hertforshire due to concerns that it will not be able to source enough workers following Brexit.
The company’s founder Angus Davison explained that he couldn’t afford to wait for Theresa May to reveal her immigration policy because he needs to plan each harvest a year in advance. Instead, Haygrove has invested in Chinese berry plantings, hoping to benefit from growing demand for soft fruit in China.
Back in March 2017, nine months after the UK narrowly voted to leave the EU, the NFU put forward a vision for a domestic agricultural policy with three cornerstones: productivity measures, environmental measures and volatility mitigation measures.
The first was to encompass things like the promotion of innovative farm technologies and support for R&D; the second to give farmers “the potential to contribute further to environmental protection and landscape management”; and the third to alleviate farmers’ exposure to “adverse weather, pests and diseases, price volatility and low bargaining power in an imbalanced supply chain”.
Going forward, the extent to which each will be prioritised in the NFU’s lobbying will depend on the trade deal Britain secures with the EU. “If we get a really poor trade deal, we will probably need more emphasis on volatility measures than anything else,” says Capper. “But if we get a good ‘business-as-usual’ deal, we’re more likely to look for increased investment and measures to lift productivity and reduce cost.”
In horticulture specifically, Capper says the focus should be on productivity since the sector isn’t subsidy-dependent, but rather market-driven. “We’ll be looking at mechanisms to drive efficiency, to reduce the cost of labour through investment in robotics and automation, and to ensure best environmental practice,”she says.
On this last point, Capper says the industry would be “very supportive” of the principles set out in the government’s recently-published ‘25 Year Plan to Improve the Environment’. However, she favours the promotion of existing best practice rather than starting again “with a blank sheet of paper.”
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