Fruit and veg worker scheme ‘not enough’

British fruit and veg growers have warned that proposals for a pilot scheme to allow seasonal workers into the UK will still leave them short of staff.

Producers of goods including berries – many of which are grown in Scotland – said the industry currently employs 60,000 EU seasonal staff annually and have a 10 to 20 per cent shortage of labourers.

Under the new scheme, up to 2,500 non-eu nationals who come to work on fruit and vegetable farms in the UK will be able to stay for six months before returning. But industry body British Summer fruits said that the move would not sustain a standstill, let alone growth.