‘We need clarity on access to fruit-pickers from abroad’

A senior figure in a major rural group has said the government must make access to foreign fruit pickers a priority in early Brexit negotiations to reduce uncertainty about food supply.

Emeritus Professor Allan Buckwell, chairman of the Kent branch of the CLA, which represents 800 landowners and farmers, said getting seasonal and casual labour during the harvest season is a “major issue” for Kent firms. Food production has the highest proportion of migrant workers in the UK at 41%, according to the Office for National Statistics.

Clarity on plans for access to foreign-born labour was one of three Brexit challenges outlined by Prof Buckwell, alongside creating a new policy for food and clarifying the trading relationship between the UK and the EU. He said his three Brexit challenges are “mammoth tasks”.

Regarding access to foreign seasonal labour, he said: “The CLA is calling on government to commit to establishing sector-based schemes, such as a seasonal agricultural workers scheme, post Brexit. This would enable people to enter the UK for a specific job, for a defined period, without the right to remain afterwards.”