Making a pig’s ear of farming

ASCATHING Efra Committee report on labour shortages in the farming sector has confirmed what many already know— that this serious problem will lead to price rises and dependency on imported goods. It’s not only that the problem is ongoing, say the MPS behind the report, rather that the lack of agricultural workers caused by Brexit and the pandemic have left food and farming businesses on the back foot, to crippling point and the detriment of mental health—and that the Government is not doing enough to solve the problem and has even attempted to blame the sector (Agromenes, page 51).

Last August, there were more than 500,000 vacancies in a workforce of 4.1 million, particularly pork butchers, meat processors and HGV drivers (a shortage of 100,000). Meanwhile, 24% of last year’s daffodil crop was left unpicked, cucumber growers couldn’t plant a third crop and one Cornish vegetable grower had to leave ‘over £500,000 of produce to rot’. The situation was dire in the pig sector: the National Pig Association (NPA) noted 10,000 job vacancies. By January, a backlog of ‘over 150,000 animals on farms’ and 35,000 animals culled and counting: ‘an incredible waste’ and ‘financially ruinous’.

The pig sector is ‘fighting for its survival,’ says NPA chief executive Zoe Davies. ‘[We] agree with the report’s long-term goal of reducing our reliance on migrant labour… there is much to work through before we can get there’.

Sometimes, wages were increased to attract workers—sharrington Strawberries upped pay by 50% for seasonal pickers, yet could only recruit two-thirds of the workforce needed— but ‘all we’re doing is poaching one another’s staff’ says Nick Allen of the British Meat Processors Association. Of course, higher labour costs are passed onto the consumer. ‘The labour pool is so limited,’ adds NFU president Minette Batters, so a higher wage ‘only adds to production costs at a time when we are facing rapidly rising costs on farm and global uncertainty.’

‘We have given the industry greater certainty by enabling the seasonal workers scheme until the end of 2024, allowing overseas workers to come to the UK for up to six months to work in the horticulture sector,’ responds Defra. ‘Our new points-based immigration system expanded the skilled worker route to many more occupations, including butchers, who can now be recruited from anywhere in the world.’

The committee claims the short-term visa schemes introduced last year were ‘too little too late’, especially as the Government had been warned about the situation as early as spring 2021. The basic conversational English requirement to the Skilled Worker Visa is ‘a tremendous barrier,’ adds Mr Allen; the report calls for flexibility on this and a permanent seasonal-workers scheme, with 10,000 more visas available this year. In the longer term, apprenticeships and better education will help make jobs in the sector more appealing to British workers. ‘A solution to this crisis will need the right people with the right skills and training available in rural areas,’ confirms Mrs Batters.

‘The Government must radically shift its attitude and work with the sector,’ concludes the report. ‘Failure to do so risks shrinking it and leading to higher food inflation at the price of the UK’S competitiveness, thereby making [us] more reliant on food imports.’