Farming Minister George Eustice has attempted to calm fears about access to foreign labour following Brexit.
Mr Eustice appeared at the annual Egg and Poultry Industry Conference (EPIC) in Wales, where he sought to calm farmers worries over the possibility of reduced access to foreign labour in post-Brexit Britain.
In the egg sector, it is estimated that EU migrants currently account for 40 per cent of total farm labour. They account for 60 per cent of total labour in packing centres. Poultry industry leaders are concerned that access to that labour force may be lost when the United Kingdom leaves the European Union, although the Minister said it may be possible to create visas to cover skills shortages following Brexit.
Poultry producers are reliant on non-UK staff throughout their businesses, whether it is in the office, hands on work, or to helping getting turkeys ready for Christmas.
George Eustice also addressed fears about cheap, lower welfare standard egg products possibly being allowed into the UK as a result of future trade deals with countries outside the UK. He said he wanted the UK to set an example on animal welfare.
Essentials for the sector
Farming unions have reiterated that it is essential for the sector to maintain 'full, unfettered' access to the single market while having continued access to a 'flexible, competent and reliable' workforce.
This is the message from the Presidents of the four UK farming unions (NFU, UFU, NFU Scotland and NFU Cymru) following a meeting with agriculture’s largest processing customers last week.
The farming sector has increasingly become worried. Chairman of the NFU horticulture board, Ali Capper, said working in the UK was worth less. She urged the government to set up a permit scheme for seasonal farmhands.
"People in Romania are now looking for €9/hour for seasonal work to make up for the travel and uprooting their lives.”
However, Migration Watch UK says Brexit should be seen as a chance to improve productivity and raise wages for British-born agricultural workers, a paper by the group concluded.
The briefing paper, released by Migration Watch UK, says leaving the EU is a chance to improve wages and conditions for agricultural workers. The plentiful supply of cheap foreign labour on British farms 'all but destroys any incentive producers have of becoming more competitive', the thinktank says.
The paper says when the UK leaves the EU, the current supply of labour from the EU will not disappear overnight, and instead calls for the industry to implement reforms to ensure "longer-term sustainability while also benefiting UK-born workers", the briefing paper stated.
