NFU chairwoman Minette Batters hailed the government’s decision to restart a seasonal workers scheme for non-EU migrants as a “major victory”.
The two year pilot scheme will allow fruit and vegetable producers to employ 2,500 workers from non-EU countries to help during peak production for six months of the year.
The NFU and trade bodies have repeatedly called for such a scheme to be reintroduced as farmers struggle to recruit enough labour for harvesting, with 14 per cent of business now looking abroad as a result, according to a British Summer Fruits survey.
The pilot will commence in the spring of 2019, will run until the end of December 2020.
Following the announcement of the scheme by home secretary Sajid Javid, Batters said growers can “take great confidence” from the new scheme, although many farmers have said 2,500 workers is too low to fill the labour gap.
“This announcement is a major victory for the NFU, its members and the public. It follows two years of evidence from the NFU, growers and MPs that a shortage of workers has been hampering food production, and is recognition from the Government that British horticulture is a successful, thriving sector which faces some unique challenges but is capable of producing more great, healthy British fruit and vegetables for people to eat,” Batters said.
She continued: “Farmers and growers have seen worker availability tighten significantly in recent years, with the shortfall to July this year reaching ten per cent. Growers will take great confidence in knowing that the government is listening during what have been extremely testing and uncertain times for the sector.
The NFU said the scheme will be run by two recruitment operators, who will oversee the placement of the workers, with further details on which recruitment agencies will be chosen coming later.
Nick Marston described this decision as having some potentially “undesirable effects' due to the concentration of providers.
Recruiters say countries likely to provide the bulk of new workers on the scheme are Ukraine, Moldova and the Philippines.
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