Angry growers left to work it out

UK Government urged to act after curbs start scramble for staff to harvest fruit and veg crops

By Joe Watson

Published:

The boss of Scotland’s biggest vegetable grower has renewed demands on the UK Government to resolve the mess it has created in restricting migrant workers for Britain’s agricultural industry.

Alistair Ewan accuses the Home Office of hijacking the seasonal agricultural workers’ scheme (Saws) and leaving Britain’s farming industry with an avoidable labour shortage. He has also called on agricultural lobby groups to do more to prevent controversial European plans to restrict pesticides, fungicides and insecticides becoming a reality.

Mr Ewan, managing director of Cupar-based East of Scotland Growers, said fruit and vegetable producers had gone from being able to access 25,000 foreign student to 15,000 currently and to none by 2010.

“Saws was the only controlled immigration system that worked. Students studying agriculture or English came to the UK and worked here over the summer and then all went home again.

“It’s now been hijacked and we’ve been told the only people who can come are Europeans. But they don’t want to come here as the euro rate is working against us. We need serious help and we need to lobby the Home Office to try and get out of this situation.”

Industry has for months been warning that tens of thousands of tonnes of fruit and vegetables may go unharvested this summer because of the restrictions.

East of Scotland Growers’ members have been “scrambling around” trying to find the 800 seasonal staff they need to harvest crops.

Mr Ewan branded as useless an offer from government that if industry can prove crop losses then it might step in to assist.

He added: “My aim is not to have any crop losses. The aim has to be to resolve this problem before we get there.”

Mr Ewan also viewed as serious the issue of finding sufficient hauliers to transport produce, particularly at peak periods. He too emphasised the importance of working together and in funding research and development work to help improve production systems.

But he complained bitterly at growing retailer pressure to keep fresh produce prices down in the face of vastly increased on-farm production costs because of soaring fuel and fertiliser prices.

“Food inflation has yet to hit the potato and vegetable industry,” he said. “We have massive downward pressure from retailers to keep prices down and they just do not want to understand or accept that growers are facing huge increases in fertiliser, labour and fuel bills. But that food inflation is going to happen at some point and when it does it will explode.”

Mr Ewan warned retailers that unless there were real profits in vegetable production they would be responsible for farmers switching to alternative cereal crops.