The Government has announced that it will be launching a new scheme to allow non EU citizens to work temporarily on UK farms during their busiest periods.
The horticultural sector has been suffering from increasing labour shortages recently and farmers across the country have been fearful that the potential loss of access to EU workers following Brexit would have a catastrophic effect on their ability to remain productive and profitable.
The pilot will mean fruit and vegetable farmers will be able to employ migrant workers for seasonal work for a period of up to 6 months and 2,500 workers from outside the EU will be able to come to the UK each year.
The initiative is due to begin in spring 2019 and after it closes in December 2020, the Government will review the pilot’s results and consider how best to support the longer-term needs of the farming industry.
Following meetings with local farmers and the NFU (National Farmers’ Union), I have been lobbying Ministers on the need to guarantee post-Brexit labour supplies for the farming sector and have raised the issue in the House of Commons Chamber a number of times. I am glad that the Government has listened to the concerns about the detrimental impact of labour shortages in the horticultural sector and heeded calls for a seasonal workers scheme to be implemented. Farmers in my constituency have already been negatively impacted by the significant labour pressures in the industry, with many reporting shortages of workers on their farms and increasing proportions of their produce being left unpicked as a result. While this is welcome progress, it is just the first step in developing a long term, post-Brexit support strategy for the vital UK farming industry.