Ewing highlights key role of rural migrant labour
A report highlighting the reliance of the Scottish soft fruit and vegetable sectors on migrant farm workers was used yesterday by rural economy secretary Fergus Ewing to stress that retaining access to this talent pool via single market membership was essential to meeting the needs of rural businesses as well as safeguarding the Scottish rural economy.
The survey, carried out by SRUC, highlighted that last season, even before the consequences of Brexit came into full effect, Scottish growers were left with a 10 to 15 per cent shortfall in pickers.
It then highlighted that, while 40 per cent of those workers who were surveyed intended coming back for another season, a similar percentage were unsure about doing so.
The study estimated that there were more than 9,000 seasonal migrant workers engaged in Scottish agriculture during 2017, of whom 900 were employed directly by labour providers.
About 25 per cent of the total number worked on more than one farm and there was also movement between picking fruit and vegetables and other sectors, in particular food
0 Scotland’s soft fruit sector depends on migrant labour processing and hospitality. On average, seasonal migrant workers were employed for just over four months per year, corresponding to the key soft fruit harvest period, but the seasonal pattern of crops in Scotland provided an opportunity for workers to work for extended periods.
Speaking prior to the meeting of devolved administration rural and environment ministers in London, Ewing added that he would be pressing Defra Secretarymichael Gove to act quickly to help resolve current concerns.
“It is vital that the UK government engages with migrant workers affected by Brexit, to ensure that their valid concerns are reflected in on-going negotiations. They must be reassured that Scotland, and the whole of the UK remains an open and welcoming place to live and work.”
The seriousness of the situation is underlined by another finding from the survey which revealed that two-thirds of farm businesses using migrant labourwerelikelytoswitch to other agricultural activities if the problem of access to foreign workers was not solved, over half stating they would likely diversify their business into nonagricultural activities.
NFU Scotland president Andrew Mccornick said:“this evidence is just further proof that we need a robust plan, post Brexit, to attract EU and non-eu seasonal workers for the Scottish soft fruit industry to continue to flourish.”