A government minister caused controversy recently when he suggested that Ukrainians could come to Britain to pick our fruit and vegetables. However, in reality in recent years Ukrainians have formed a key part of the harvesting force since Brexit. 67 per cent of the almost 30,000 people recruited in 2021 under the seasonal workers' scheme came from the Ukraine.
Seasonal workers became an important part of the farm labour force when East European countries joined the EU. At the same time fruit farmers were making increase use of polytunnels on farms, allowing more reliable production over a longer season. These attracted some local criticism in Herefordshire as a blot on the landscape.
Workers were provided with temporary accommodation on the farms. The better employers arranged courses in English. There was an incentive to treat workers well as they came back year after year. Some eventually became supervisors and others decided to stay and became UK residents.
However, as their home economies became more successful, and the rate of the pound against the euro became less favourable, the attractions of doing this demanding physical work in Britain diminished. I have watched workers in a Norfolk field working behind an automatic harvester on field vegetables and it is back breaking work.
The Government hoped that after Brexit that local workers would fill the gap. In practice, few were willing to do so and those that did were regarded as less productive than seasonal workers from abroad. Why this was the case is controversial. The seasonal workers scheme was reintroduced as a pilot in 2019 after being dropped in 2013.
Now Ukrainian males are either fighting the Russians or can't leave the country provoking a recruitment crisis. One who worked at a Kent grower has been killed. A lack of visa processing facilities in Kyiv is another factor. The main harvesting season starts in six weeks.
The estimable Judith Evans wrote a good article on this in the Financial Times yesterday. Fruit and vegetable growers are now trying to recruit workers from countries such as Morocco and Mongolia. Tajikstan and the Philppines are also in the frame.
A spokesman for Kent salad grower LJ Betts told the Pink 'Un that he had managed to recruit 38 Romanians to replace 40 Ukrainians but these workers would require training and would be less productive than experienced workers, pushing up costs.
