We need more foreign workers or fruit will be left to rot in the fields
Farmers fly to eastern Europe in desperate bid to recruit pickers
FARMERS in Scotland have warned fruit will be “left to rot in the fields” if a catastrophic shortage of foreign workers isn’t resolved soon.
Seasonal pickers are the “lifeblood” of the £100million industry but fears over Brexit and buoyant economies in eastern Europe have dampened their desire to head to the UK.
With the season under way, some growers have being forced to head to Romania, Moldova and Latvia on recruiting trips with loans, bonuses and free flights offered to tempt pickers to travel.
Brothers Tim and Rob Stockwell run the 2000-acre Barnsmuir Farm in Fife, producing about 1000 tons of fruit every season.
Tim is still 50 staff short of the 350 needed. And he says his business can’t operate without seasonal workers.
A recent survey found that of the 4112 pickers in Angus, just 11 were British nationals.
Tim said: “I went to Bulgaria but we’re still short. Our agents in Poland and Romania are struggling too.
“It has got worse in the last 18 months or so with uncertainty around Brexit. Economies across eastern Europe are picking up and these people can get better jobs at home, so why travel?”
Tim would be happy to hire British workers but says the current generation “feel it’s better to stay at home, especially with the benefits system”. Growers generally pay the living wage of £7.83 an hour, which can rise to more than £11 with overtime.
They say the solution is to revive the UK Government’s seasonal agricultural workers’ scheme, dropped in 2013 by then home secretary Theresa May. It would allow non-EU workers to get temporary jobs on British farms.
Rob said: “The only way the Government will make a decision is when the shelves start emptying. But by then it’s likely to be too late. Fruit that should be on the shelves will be left to rot in the fields.”
NFU Scotland president Andrew McCornick said three-quarters of horticultural farmers had difficulty recruiting non-UK workers.
“They want the Government to create a seasonal scheme. Without one, he said: “Scottish growers will only find it more and more difficult to recruit.”
Graeme Dey, SNP MSP for Angus South, said Environment Secretary Michael Gove had failed to act. He said: “That is simply not good enough.”
Angus Tory MP Kirstene Hair added: “We urgently need clarity for our soft fruit industry. It is of great importance to local economies, specifically in Tayside.
“I have had widespread crossparty support for the introduction of a version of the seasonal agricultural workers scheme.”