Politicians to pick Perthshire fruit

Westminster politicians will pitch in and pick fruit when they visit an Alyth farm later this week to learn about the labour crisis facing the industry.

Members of the Scottish Affairs Committee, including its chairman Pete Wishart MP, will visit West Jordanstone Farm on Friday to see for themselves how fruit is rotting in the fields as a result of a lack of experienced pickers.

Mr Wishart said: “Whilst we have heard encouraging noises from the UK Government about the case for a new Seasonal Agricultural Workers scheme, what producers in Perthshire and across Scotland need now is urgent action, in the form of a new scheme, designed to address chronic labour shortages.

“The alternative is piles of perfectly good fruit and vegetables left rotting in the fields – which is unacceptable under any circumstances. We need to see action now to prevent this from happening.”

A seasonal workers programme, which worked well in the past, was closed in 2013 when farmers found demand could met by worker travelling to Scotland under the European Union’s freedom of movement rules.

However, Brexit has cast doubt over the future of freedom of movement and the agricultural sector is experiencing labour shortages.

NFU Scotland policy director Jonnie Hall has already told the committee that farmers had “very, very high-value crops in the field that have simply rotted over the winter because there has not been the labour to pick the vegetables”.

Mr Wishart said: “Myself and other committee members are looking forward to visiting Alyth to hear firsthand from producers about the impact labour shortages are having on their ability to produce – and to taking part in the harvest and helping with this skilled work.” now

Down on the farm: Pete Wishart.