Written Evidence submitted by The National Farmers’ Union Scotland (LS0028)

Introduction

The National Farmers’ Union Scotland (NFU Scotland) is a membership body representing farmers, growers, and crofters from across Scotland. NFU Scotland has over 8,500 members, representing a significant proportion of Scotland’s farming population.

NFU Scotland’s members have been highlighting the growing labour problem. Concerns have grown through the year with many members telling us the farm labour shortage is severely impacting their farm businesses, particularly for those with horticulture, potato, pig, poultry, and dairy businesses. Regional representatives from East Central (east Perthshire, Fife, and Angus), and Dumfries and Galloway have heard that the labour shortage problems are particularly acute there. As a response, we have collected evidence from a range of sources to inform our engagement with UK and Scottish Governments, the wider agricultural industry, and our members. We welcome this opportunity to share our findings with you, and highlighting our main short-term ask of the UK government: 

• Create a 12-month Covid-19 Recovery visa in the short term, as requested in the ‘Establishing the labour availability issues of the UK Food and Drink Sector[1]’ report.

Summary RESPONSE

1. What is the extent and nature of labour shortages currently being experienced in the food supply chain?

• All agricultural labour provider interviewees stated this is the worst labour crisis they have experienced, and this was consistent across all regions, sectors, and working patterns (full-time, part-time, and seasonal).
• The NFU Scotland all-member survey found that only 40% of the job vacancies were filled and retained in the last 12 months.
• The NFU Scotland horticulture member survey found a labour shortage of 10% in the spring; 22% in the summer; 17% in late summer/early autumn
• An RABDF 2021 labour survey[2] found: 63% of farmers saying they have had difficulties recruiting in the last 5 years; 32.5% would consider leaving the industry due to a lack of labour
• Pig and poultry sector members have quoted shortages of ~20%, with some quoting as high as 50%; one company has spent an additional £1.6 million on wages to retain staff at a time when margins are historically low

2. What are the factors driving labour shortages in the food supply chain?

• All agricultural labour providers responded that Brexit was a significant factor driving these labour shortages, with the loss of freedom of movement significantly reducing the pool of available labour.
• Six of the eight labour providers added that other factors had driven the labour shortage. These additional factors were: covid, low numbers of UK applicants for agricultural work, and an ageing demographic of existing farm labour.
• Three of the eight labour providers commented on agricultural working patterns and conditions (e.g. outside work) making this less attractive to potential workers. Some interviewees related this to a reassessment of priorities across society in the covid pandemic.
• Three of the eight labour providers identified recent wage inflation across the UK economy as a factor, one labour provider commented that the UK was a less attractive destination for workers, and one labour provider mentioned the furlough scheme.
• The NFU Scotland all-member survey asked: ‘please tell us about your experiences of recruiting UK workers’. The responses could be split into seven broad categories. The three biggest categories of responses were:
• Very poor quality of UK workers (47%)
• Working hours, conditions, and the type of work unsuited to the UK workers who were employed (24%)
• Lack of applicants (10%)
• In the horticulture sector several factors that have been identified by NFU Scotland members in driving seasonal fruit and vegetable labour shortages:
• The late appointment of the two additional SWP operators in mid-April delayed the recruitment of staff.
• The design and operation of the SWP scheme.
• A combination of the sudden reduction in the availability of a pool of high-quality migrant labour, and the way that current horticultural businesses are structured has made it extremely difficult to recruit domestic labour.
• Pig and poultry sectors have traditionally relied on eastern European workers because the jobs are not appealing to UK workers:
• Workers must be physically fit, and the work can involve unsociable hours, long periods of focused work, sometimes in uncomfortable conditions such as a warm and unpleasant smelling environment. Other sectors can offer better conditions and pay, making this sector comparatively unattractive.
• A failure to recognize dairy workers as highly skilled and not to include them on the MAC Shortage Occupation List has contributed to a labour shortage in the dairy sector.

3. What is the outlook for the labour shortage situation in the coming months and years?

• All agricultural labour providers responded negatively when asked this question. All said that a change to migration policy was needed to improve the situation.
• The NFU Scotland all-member survey asked: ‘is the labour shortage influencing your business decisions in the longer term?’:
• 85% of respondents replied ‘yes’, and 15% replied ‘no’
• When asked to add a comment, 45% of all respondents did so, with the majority stating they will retract, limit the expansion of their business, or consider leaving the industry due to a lack of confidence.
• Data was gathered in the NFU Scotland horticulture member survey on the retention rate of different categories of worker (SWP workers, EU workers, and UK workers) throughout the 2021 season:
• The retention rate of SWP workers was 81%
• The retention rate of EU workers was 82%
• The retention rate of UK workers was significantly lower, at just 32%
• The strikingly low retention rate of UK workers figure was supported by the many comments received about the negative experiences that businesses had in recruiting domestic labour.
• Due to a range of factors including covid restrictions, loss of freedom of movement, and delayed operation of the SWP scheme, Scottish horticulture businesses increased their recruitment activities for UK workers. Despite the extra effort put in, they had a great deal of difficulty in recruiting and retaining domestic workers.
• The loss of freedom of movement, the restrictions of the SWP, and the difficulties in recruiting UK labour all contribute to an extremely grim outlook for the labour shortage situation in horticulture businesses in the coming months and years.
• This evidence suggests that a continuing labour shortage will result in a retraction and restructuring of the Scottish agricultural sector over the coming months and years, resulting in a smaller Scottish agricultural workforce within a smaller Scottish agricultural industry.

4. What other issues are affecting the food supply chain?

• In the horticulture sector prices have remained static for nearly a decade now. Low returns have made it difficult for this sector to invest in their businesses. Without any increase in returns, large wage increases have been extremely challenging for this sector.
• The prospect of a low availability and high price of nitrogen fertiliser is influencing the business decisions of NFU Scotland combinable crops, potato, and horticulture members and could contribute to reduced production in 2022.
• Falling milk prices, rising feed costs and high straw prices have contributed to a reduction in profitability in the dairy sector.

5. What impact will the timetable for introducing physical checks at the border on food and live animal imports from the EU have on the current issues being experienced by the UK food supply chain?

• It is likely that unequal trade, allowing cheaper and poorer quality imports to replace UK product will have a negative impact on UK agriculture. Increased supply of cheap food from the EU will not support sustainable wage growth in UK agricultural sector and will result in business retraction rather than restructuring. 
• The pig industry is particularly concerned about the threat of African Swine Fever from Europe. Unchecked product entering the UK poses biosecurity risks, which could potentially lead to significant livestock and health and welfare impacts if disease does enter the UK.

6. What measures has the Government taken to alleviate the problems being faced by the food supply chain this year? To what extent have they been successful?

• The three-month poultry worker scheme is inadequate. NFU Scotland does not think it will not provide enough time for the operators to put in place agencies in foreign countries, promote, recruit, process, and transport workers. There are concerns from the horticulture sector that this will distract from the pressing need for recruitment of SWP workers.
• The delay in the appointment of additional SWP operators in April 2021 initially exacerbated the labour shortage problem. The April appointment date extremely challenging for their business operation.

7. Does the Government need to take further steps to support the food supply chain?

• NFU Scotland wants significant steps to be taken by the Government to support the food supply chain. The most important and impactful step that can be taken is a change to post-Brexit migration policy. This was supported by our interview with agricultural labour providers.
• All labour providers interviewed responded that the UK government needs to change migration policy to address these labour shortages.
• As an immediate step the Government must create a 12-month Covid-19 Recovery visa in the short term, as requested in the ‘Establishing the labour availability issues of the UK Food and Drink Sector[3]’ report.
• While the covid-19 recovery visa is in place NFU Scotland wants the Seasonal Workers Pilot (SWP) scheme to be reviewed and replaced with an improved permanent scheme that works for both farm businesses and seasonal migrant workers and extends to the ornamental sector. NFU Scotland want:
• Visas to no longer be linked to a particular farm, to eliminate the administrative burden and costs of transfers.
• The ‘cooling-off’ period reduced to four months.
• An increase in the number of visas issued as freedom of movement for EU nationals has now ended, as the SWP must now replace freedom of movement as well as the SAWS scheme.
• The number of available visas to be informed by forecasted supply and demand of seasonal horticultural labour, rather than a blunt number of annual places, and for this forecast to consider the implications of the loss of freedom of movement.
• Workers to be able to obtain next season’s visa whilst still in the UK, to give workers the confidence they will be able to return.
• An increased number of Operators, with the inclusion of Operators from the devolved nations.
• For the dairy sector there should be recognition from the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) that specific dairy roles are highly skilled and should be included on the MAC Occupation Shortage List.
• For all sectors the language requirements of work visas for certain categories of workers in the agri-food sector should be reviewed to better reflect the skills required for these roles. Visa costs should be reduced, and the visas should be simplified by cutting the amount of ‘red tape’ faced by farm businesses by reviewing their requirements, or by enabling labour providers to recruit workers on farm businesses’ behalf.
• In the longer-term the UK Government should work with the agriculture sector, including those in devolved regions, on a package of measures that support training and skills development, the adoption of new technologies and career promotion.
• Supporting policy that enables the farming community to attract UK workers.
• An increased funding package to support young people entering the industry via increased spending on the Modern Apprenticeship scheme and other similar initiatives.
• Support from the Department of Work and Pensions for the agricultural industry.
• Schools should promote employment within the agri-food sector as a viable and credible option for school leavers.

FULL RESPONSE

NFU Scotland’s sources of evidence

This NFU Scotland response includes evidence from a range of sources:

• Interviews with eight labour providers who recruit across all regions and sectors (other than poultry) in Scotland. Six of the labour providers were for specialist sectors (potatoes, horticulture, pigs, dairy). Two of the labour providers recruited for a wide range of sectors but had least recruitment activity for the beef cattle and sheep sectors.
• A survey targeting all NFU Scotland members that asked about labour and recruitment.
• The NFU Scotland all-member survey had responses from all sectors and regions in Scotland, and closed on the 8th October 2021. Respondents were asked what enterprises their business had. The response rate of those with horticulture, dairy, pig, and poultry enterprises was high, as a proportion of farm business types identified in the RESAS agriculture facts and figures[4] (Table1). This suggests that NFU Scotland members with these enterprises were more motivated to respond to the survey, biasing the sample towards these enterprises. This uneven response rate is consistent with member engagement we have had from these sectors on this issue.

Table 1. NFU Scotland survey result response rate by sector and RESAS data

• A survey targeting NFU Scotland’s horticulture members to find out about the composition of the seasonal labour force in 2021, and their experiences of recruiting domestic labour.
• The NFU Scotland horticulture member survey had a 31% response rate from members who have an interest in seasonal migrant labour. It closed on the 20th September 2021.
• Additional information from members of NFU Scotland’s combinable crops, milk, and livestock committees, and pig, poultry, horticulture, and potato working groups.
• Additional information from other sources, e.g. the Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers (RABDF).

1. What is the extent and nature of labour shortages currently being experienced in the food supply chain?

Agricultural labour provider interview responses

• All interviewees stated this is the worst labour crisis they have experienced, and this was consistent across all regions and working patterns (full-time, part-time, and seasonal).
• Interviewee responses included the comments:
• “desperate, really desperate”
• “the worst it’s ever been in my lifetime”
• “very bad – I have more jobs on the books than I have ever had, and I’ve done this for 15 years”
• “colossal”
• It was not possible for the labour providers to provide specific numbers due to the dynamic nature of the labour market and high level of labour movement between businesses.

NFU Scotland all-member survey

Members were asked about their recruitment in the last 12 months. The survey found:

• Respondents collectively had a total of 2,611 vacancies, comprising
• 2,240 seasonal employee vacancies
• 292 full-time employment vacancies
• 79 part-time employment vacancies
• Jobs were offered to 2,499 workers (96% of these vacancies).
• Only 1,057 workers (40% of these vacancies) were recruited and retained by respondents.

NFU Scotland horticulture member survey

Members were asked which category (Seasonal Workers Pilot, EU, or UK) workers they had offered work to, and how many vacancies they had for three different time periods in 2021: spring (February – April); summer (May – July); and late summer/autumn (August – 20th September, when the survey closed). For each of the time periods the survey identified labour shortages of:

• 10% in the spring
• 22% in the summer
• 17% in late summer/early autumn

The proportions of worker places can be seen in Figure 1 below.

Figure 1: offers of employment by worker category, and worker shortage

• Since the survey closed NFU Scotland has heard reports of large increase in seasonal labour shortages due to workers with EU Settled Status leaving for permanent roles in sectors such as hospitality and food processing. If the survey ran until mid-October, it is likely that the shortage figure of 17% for the late summer/autumn period would be far higher.

Additional information

The dairy industry has come under pressure in 2021, with a shortage of drivers, factory workers and farm staff.

• This has resulted in non-collection or delayed collections of milk, which could create problems for the dairy supply chain and potentially see wastage of milk as well as added cost and impacts on milk prices.

An RABDF 2021 labour survey[5] has found:

• 63% of farmers saying they have had difficulties recruiting in the last 5 years.
• The figures for the same question were 40% in 2014, and 51% in 2016.
• 80% of respondents were worried about staff recruitment.
• 32.5% would consider leaving the industry due to a lack of labour.
• >50% of respondents employed staff from outside of the UK, with almost two-thirds attributing this to insufficient availability of UK labour.
• 93% responded that EU labour was a successful option for their farm.
• 83% employed EU labour due to ‘willingness to work’.

The pig and poultry sectors are both struggling to find workers both on farm and in key roles further down the chain: transporters, catchers, packers, and processors. 

• Most members quote shortages of ~20%, with some quoting as high as 50%.
• One company has spent an additional £1.6 million on wages to retain staff at a time when margins are historically low.

Results from the June 2021 Scottish Agricultural Census[6] found that the total workforce on agricultural holdings increased by 1%.

• This finding is counter to the evidence presented in this call for evidence, and reflects the high proportion of cattle, sheep, and forage farm businesses (Table 1) in Scotland.
• The sectors hardest hit by the labour shortage (horticulture, potato, pig, poultry, and dairy sectors) who mainly responded to NFU Scotland’s surveys and are serviced by the interviewed agricultural labour providers, are proportionally far smaller in terms of business numbers in Scotland. However in terms of proportion of economic output, these sectors combined make a significant contribution to total agricultural output[7].
• The June 2021 Scottish Agricultural Census also found that “working occupiers are getting increasingly older. In June 2021, only 10 per cent of the total working occupiers were under 41”. This ageing demographic is likely to contribute to the labour shortage in agriculture in the long-term.

2. What are the factors driving labour shortages in the food supply chain?

Agricultural labour provider interview responses

• All labour providers responded that Brexit was a significant factor driving these labour shortages, with the loss of freedom of movement significantly reducing the pool of available labour. One labour provider commented that previously “EU freedom of movement provided replenishing stock, but Brexit has now cut-off [this labour] supply”. Another described how the restrictions of the (fruit and vegetable) SWP scheme had impacted non-eligible sectors: “potato labour comes from fruit farms for potato harvest, the busiest time; but Brexit has reduced the labour available”.
• Six of the eight labour providers added that other factors had driven the labour shortage. These additional factors were: covid, low numbers of UK applicants for agricultural work, and an ageing demographic of existing farm labour. One interviewee described the combination of factors as a “perfect storm”.
• Three of the eight labour providers commented on agricultural working patterns and conditions (e.g. outside in all weathers) making this less attractive to potential workers: “long hours on bigger farms is unappealing to workers” and “people are disillusioned with long hours and hard work”. Some interviewees related this to a reassessment of priorities across society in the covid pandemic, with one commenting that this resulted in “a change in work ethic of prospective workers - Covid has made people reassess what they want to do, they do not want to work long hours or do evening work.”
• Three of the eight labour providers identified recent wage inflation across the UK economy as a factor, with comments like “[the] agriculture industry needs to pick up on the wages side”.
• One labour provider commented that the UK was “not so attractive now compared to other countries, so the networks [of available labour] are no longer there”.
• One labour provider mentioned the furlough scheme: “a lot of people on furlough [were] not available to work”.

NFU Scotland all-member survey

• Respondents were asked: ‘please tell us about your experiences of recruiting UK workers’. There were 64 responses to this question (53% of responses). The responses fell into the following broad categories:
• Very poor quality of UK workers (47%).
• Working hours, conditions, and the type of work unsuited to the UK workers who were employed (24%).
• Lack of applicants (10%).
• Positive experiences (8%).
• Lack of accommodation as a barrier (4%).
• Short retention due to career progression of workers (3%).
• The need for more skills development (3%).
• These responses are consistent with the agricultural labour providers interviews. The higher quality of migrant labour has made the sudden loss of freedom of movement following Brexit a large contributing factor to the labour crisis. A sudden need to recruit UK workers, many of whom are unsuitable candidates, has created operational problems for a significant proportion of NFU Scotland’s membership.
• The working hours, conditions, and type of work being less attractive to workers is also consistent with the interviewee responses about post-covid reassessment of potential workers’ priorities.

Additional information

In the horticulture sector there are several factors that have been identified by NFU Scotland members in driving seasonal fruit and vegetable labour shortages:

• The late appointment of the two additional SWP operators (AG Recruitment and Fruitful) in mid-April delayed the recruitment of staff.
• The design and operation of the SWP has also contributed to labour shortages: the length of time workers can remain working in the UK (6 months) is not long enough; the SWP has recruited more uninformed and unsuitable workers than the previous SAWS scheme and direct recruitment of EU workers by the businesses themselves; and worker retention problems have arisen from transfer requirements.
• High-quality migrant labour living and working on farms has enabled a significant restructuring of horticultural businesses since freedom of movement began. Access to high quality labour from Europe has contributed significantly to rapid growth of fruit and vegetable businesses in Scotland, with the output value of soft fruit growing by £68m to £128m (an increase of 112%) over the decade to 2015; and vegetables growing by £48m to £116m (+72%)[8]. A large pool of high-quality labour from the EU has enabled the sector to evolve and thrive, meeting ever more challenging market requirements at ever lower costs across longer seasons. This growth has been achieved through a significant restructuring of horticulture businesses over the past few decades, while migrant labour has also become an integral part of horticultural business structures. A combination of the sudden reduction in the availability of this pool of high-quality migrant labour, and the way that current horticultural businesses are structured has made it extremely difficult to recruit domestic labour.
• The factors limiting the recruitment of UK labour are detailed in Table 2 below.

Table 2. Factors limiting recruitment of domestic labour by the Scottish horticultural sector

Pig and poultry sectors have traditionally relied on eastern European workers because the jobs are not appealing to UK workers:

• Workers must be physically fit, and the work can involve unsociable hours, long periods of focused work, sometimes in uncomfortable conditions such as a warm and unpleasant smelling environment.
• Other sectors can offer better conditions and pay, making this sector comparatively unattractive, with workers commenting that “it’s not the money, I just don’t want to do the job”.

3. What is the outlook for the labour shortage situation in the coming months and years?

Agricultural labour provider interview responses

• All labour providers said that a change to migration policy was needed to improve the situation. All responses to this question were very negative, including:
• “Bleak”
• “Devastating if there are not policy changes”
• “Not getting any better - needs a serious step change or will get worse”, “[unless there is a] new source of unskilled labour through some scheme the entire food chain will be in crisis and heavily reliant on food imports”
• “A number of pig producers will exit the sector”

NFU Scotland all-member survey

Respondents were asked: ‘is the labour shortage influencing your business decisions in the longer term?’:

• 85% of respondents replied ‘yes’, and 15% replied ‘no’
• When asked to add a comment, 45% of all respondents did so, providing two broad categories of comments: 1) Retracting, limiting the expansion of their business or considering leaving the industry due to a lack of confidence (65% of these responses); or 2) Restructuring or adapting their business (35% of these responses)
• Typical comments were:
• “We closed one dairy, because it is almost impossible to get staff”
• “How do we consider expansion or adding things to our offer when we can’t keep the farm running to the standards we require? We have to have that as our basis. Without it the rest does not stack up”
• “Putting additional pressure on farm and family”
• “More automation, simplification at the cost of better return.”

This indicates that a continuing labour shortage will result in a retraction and restructuring of the Scottish agricultural sector over the coming months and years, resulting in a smaller Scottish agricultural workforce within a smaller Scottish agricultural industry.

NFU Scotland horticulture member survey

• An outlook of a smaller Scottish agricultural workforce within a smaller Scottish agricultural industry corresponds with the NFU Scotland horticulture member survey results. Data was gathered on the retention rate of different categories of worker (SWP workers, EU workers, and UK workers) throughout the 2021 season:
• The retention rate of SWP workers was 81%
• The retention rate of EU workers was 82%
• The retention rate of UK workers was significantly lower, at just 32%
• The strikingly low retention rate of UK workers figure was supported by the many comments received about the negative experiences that businesses had in recruiting domestic labour. Respondents were asked: ‘tell us about your experiences of recruiting domestic (UK) workers’. There were no positive experience comments, the following examples represent the response:
• “Very high turnover of staff. Constant training and absenteeism. Very time consuming and exhausting in a short seasonal job.”
• “Last year we hired thirty UK workers on Full Pay, Bonuses and Holiday Pay and training. Ten never came, the other twenty worked for one to three days then left. Two people stayed the season.”
• “We farm in an area where there are many other farms looking for seasonal staff. The number unemployed in our area was 2,800, this would not cover half of the vacancies for seasonal workers in this area.”
• “Very few UK workers want to take a job that is seasonal as they can take a permanent job. Also they do not want to move from home to stay on a farm. It is not a question of rate of pay.”
• These difficulties have been particularly frustrating for horticulture businesses as they had significantly increased their recruitment activities for UK workers: covid restrictions were still in place, freedom of movement had ended for EU nationals, and there was a delay in the announcement of new operators of the Seasonal Workers Pilot scheme. Despite these clear incentives to recruiting UK workers being in place, businesses had a great deal of difficulty in recruiting and retaining domestic workers.
• The loss of freedom of movement, the restrictions of the SWP, and the difficulties in recruiting UK labour (evidenced in our survey and caused by the factors described in Table 2) all contribute to an extremely grim outlook for the labour shortage situation in the coming months and years.

Additional information

• In 2020 the horticulture sector responded with a ‘Pick for Britain’ campaign encouraging UK residents to apply to work on horticultural farms. The campaign received a lot of interest with tens of thousands of applications, but relatively small numbers were recruited. This created a large administrative burden for farm businesses; having to filter out a large proportion of unsuitable candidates at recruitment and induction. NFU Scotland have written a case study of a member’s experience of recruiting UK workers during the ‘Pick for Britain’ campaign. This extract is typical of the experience of horticulture businesses across Scotland:
• “We next offered a group of over 200 British applicants work for our peak picking season.  We did not hear back from many, and of the few who did respond, only three turned up for the induction and to take up work. One of these workers stayed for three days and did not come back; another worker stayed for two weeks; and the third worker stayed for eight weeks. The HR burden of this very low applicant to worker ratio was very high and needed an individual’s full-time attention. Despite this, we continued to try to recruit British workers. We had one additional person accept a position in the pack house in October. This person stayed for eight weeks.”

• The future for the pig and poultry sectors is bleak.  There is an immediate need for access to workers, which may be helped by schemes to access foreign workers to jobs the UK public simply do not want to do, and these schemes are urgently needed to provide staff now.  There is however a longer-term issue that needs to be addressed looking at how to make these jobs more appealing, direct more money into the industry so businesses can compete with other sectors of the work force, improve conditions and provision of skills and training.
• Dairy farms are exiting the industry. Due to a lack of staff the milking routine is being disrupted with three times a day milking herds being reduced to twice a day milking, which could lead to a reduction of milk output. This is supported by AHDB data that cites milk production in GB is now running 1.9% below the same week last year: equivalent to 0.64 million litres. A failure to recognize dairy workers as highly skilled and not to include them on the MAC Shortage Occupation List will leave the UK dairy industry with a severe labour shortage with some of the largest dairy producers in the UK relying on skilled foreign labour.

4. What other issues are affecting the food supply chain?

• In the horticulture sector prices have remained static for nearly a decade now. Low returns have made it difficult for this sector to invest in their businesses. Without any increase in returns, large increases in labour costs have been extremely challenging for this sector.
• The prospect of a low availability and high price of nitrogen fertiliser is influencing the business decisions of NFU Scotland combinable crops, potato, and horticulture members and could contribute to a reduction in production in 2022.
• In a Milk Cost of Production Report[9] dairy farm profits of a costed group averaged £185 a cow in the milk year (ending 31 March), a drop of £48 a cow on the previous year.  Falling milk prices, rising feed costs and high straw prices contributed to this reduction in profitability.

5. What impact will the timetable for introducing physical checks at the border on food and live animal imports from the EU have on the current issues being experienced by the UK food supply chain?

• It is likely that unequal trade, allowing cheaper and poorer quality imports to replace UK product will have a negative impact on UK agriculture. Increased supply of cheap food from the EU will not support sustainable wage growth in UK agricultural sector and will result in business retraction rather than restructuring. 
• The pig industry is particularly concerned about the threat of African Swine Fever from Europe. Unchecked product entering the UK poses biosecurity risks, which could potentially lead to significant livestock and health and welfare impacts if disease does enter the UK.

6. What measures has the Government taken to alleviate the problems being faced by the food supply chain this year? To what extent have they been successful?

• The three-month poultry worker scheme is inadequate. It will not provide enough time for the operators to put in place agencies in foreign countries, promote, recruit, process, and transport workers. There are concerns from the horticulture sector that this will distract from the pressing need for recruitment of SWP workers.
• The delay in the appointment of additional SWP operators in April 2021 initially exacerbated the labour shortage problem. Horticultural businesses agree on their labour supply for the coming season by the end of the preceding year, which made the April appointment date extremely challenging for their business operation.

7. Does the Government need to take further steps to support the food supply chain?

• NFU Scotland wants significant steps to be taken by the Government to support the food supply chain. The most important and impactful step that can be taken is a change to post-Brexit migration policy. This was supported by our interview with agricultural labour providers.

Agricultural labour provider interview responses

• All labour providers interviewed responded that the UK government needs to change migration policy to address these labour shortages.
• Comments about the current migration policy included:
• “visa costs [are] too expensive”
• “look at issuing work visas for industries that are struggling”
• “need improved schemes that enable bona fide businesses to employ people”
• “adopt an Australian working holiday visa that runs for 1 to 2 years for EU nationals, going through a fair process”
• “sponsorship is not viable, guaranteeing a certain level of wage with sponsors is too much – there is too much red tape for farmers with the current system”.
• One of the interviewees responded that the government should “support the industry in its drive to show career opportunities to UK workforce” and added that there “simply isn't enough people to do the work - 6 million migrant workers and only 3 million unemployed” indicating that this labour provider wants migration policy to be changed in parallel with supporting the recruitment of UK workers.

NFU Scotland have reviewed the evidence and consulted with our membership on this difficult and devastating issue. We would like to see the Government provide more support to the struggling agricultural industry in the immediate, short, and longer-term.

Immediate step

• Create a 12-month Covid-19 Recovery visa in the short term, as requested in the ‘Establishing the labour availability issues of the UK Food and Drink Sector[10]’ report.

Short-term steps

While the covid-19 recovery visa is in place NFU Scotland wants the Seasonal Workers Pilot (SWP) scheme to be reviewed and replaced with an improved permanent scheme that works for both farm businesses and seasonal migrant workers and extends to the ornamental sector. NFU Scotland want:

• Visas to no longer be linked to a particular farm, to eliminate the administrative burden and costs of transfers.
• The ‘cooling-off’ period reduced to four months.
• To increase the number of visas issued as freedom of movement for EU nationals has now ended, which means that the SWP must now replace freedom of movement as well as the SAWS scheme.
• The number of available visas to be informed by forecasted supply and demand of seasonal horticultural labour, rather than a blunt number of annual places, and for this forecast to consider the implications of the loss of freedom of movement.
• Workers to be able to obtain next season’s visa whilst still in the UK, to give workers the confidence they will be able to return.
• An increased number of Operators, with the inclusion of Operators from the devolved nations.

For the dairy sector:

• There should be recognition from the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) that specific dairy roles are highly skilled and should be included on the MAC Occupation Shortage List.

For all sectors:

• The language requirements of work visas for certain categories of workers in the agri-food sector should be reviewed to better reflect the skills required for these roles.
• Visa costs should be reduced and the visas should be simplified by cutting the amount of ‘red tape’ faced by farm businesses by reviewing their requirements, or by enabling labour providers to recruit workers on farm businesses’ behalf.

Longer-term steps

The UK Government should work with the agriculture sector, including those in devolved regions, on a package of measures that support training and skills development, the adoption of new technologies and career promotion.

• Supporting policy that enables the farming community to attract UK workers to the agriculture sector to address the productivity, climate change, and wildlife challenges of modern agriculture.
• An increased funding package to support young people entering the industry via increased spending on the Modern Apprenticeship scheme and other similar initiatives. These must support young people for the longer periods of time needed to develop skills in an industry with changing work patterns and types of work throughout the seasons each year.
• The Department of Work and Pensions should support the agricultural industry to highlight career opportunities for the UK workforce and develop more formal continuing professional development programmes and career progression opportunities.
• Schools should promote employment within the agri-food sector as a viable and credible option for school leavers. Food and drink production and consumption should be studied within schools in the national curriculum. The UK is less engaged with food than many other countries and its citizens must have a more positive relationship with, and understanding of, food and food production and its importance to the economy, health, climate, and wildlife.