Labour shortage fear for UK horticulture

Sustainable growth and investment within the UK’s £3.7bn fresh produce sector may be at risk after the Government announced it will not be replacing the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme (SAWS) at the end of the year, a leading industry body has warned.

The British Growers Association wants the Government to explain how it intends to work with the sector to identify and recruit workers from the labour market as a result.

Under SAWS, fruit and vegetable growers can employ migrant workers from Bulgaria and Romania as seasonal workers for up to six months at a time, but Immigration Minister Mark Harper says there are no plans to open any new SAWS for workers from outside the European Economic Area when the current scheme closes at the end of the year.

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Currently, there is an annual quota of 21,250 SAWS participants.

In a statement this week, Mr Harper, MP for Forest of Dean, said: “At a time of unemployment in the UK and the EU there should be sufficient workers from within those labour markets to meet the needs of the horticultural industry.”

But James Hallett, chief executive of the British Growers Association, claimed the absence of a replacement scheme was at odds with the advice of the Government’s independent Migration Advisory Committee (MAC), which warned that without SAWS the horticulture sector could face contraction, increased imports and 10 to 15 per cent higher fresh produce prices.

Mr Harper, however, argued that the MAC had concluded that there was unlikely to be an impact on labour supply in the short term, although this might change in the longer term.

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The MAC was also clear a replacement SAWS would amount to preferential treatment for horticulture and the Government’s Agricultural Technologies Strategy will support innovation by agricultural businesses, he said.

Britain’s horticulture sector produces 22 per cent of the output value of UK farming on four per cent of the land area, Mr Hallett said, adding: “Our industry has a key role to play in supporting the Government’s drive for economic growth within the agri-food sector.

“Through improvements in efficiency and innovation, British growers have a key opportunity to expand production and reduce a £4bn trade deficit within the sector. But continuing uncertainty over access to seasonal migrant labour, when sufficient workers cannot be found here in the UK, represents a major threat to future production and investment plans.”

Mr Harper contested that workers from Malta, Cyprus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia and Hungary form the core of the seasonal agricultural workforce and the sector should be able to attract and retain UK and EEA workers because seasonal agricultural work can pay good wages.

Increasing the UK workforce

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Immigration Minister Mark Harper said the Government had been working with a range of agencies to help unemployed UK residents into horticultural work through training and guaranteed interviews.

He said a pilot scheme to encourage unemployed UK residents to apply for, train and secure jobs on arable farms had shown encouraging results with a high proportion of participants going on to secure employment in the sector and the Government wanted to build on these innovative approaches.

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