The
government is tackling labour shortages in the food supply chain,
funding technology to reduce the reliance on migrant labour and
providing certainty and clarity for farms and other food
businesses across the UK.
In its
response to John Shropshire's Independent Review into Labour
Shortages in the Food Supply Chain, the government will implement
a series of new measures to support the industry. These
include:
- extending the seasonal worker visa route for five years until
2029 to give businesses time to plan effectively;
- up to £50 million of further funding for new technology to
support fully automated packhouses and more support to follow to
bring robotic crop pickers on a par with human pickers in three
to five years;
- creating a comprehensive strategy to enhance skills provision
and attract domestic workers.
Recognising
the need for farmers and growers to have time to invest in
automation and move away from a reliance on migrant labour, the
seasonal worker visa route has been extended for five years from
2025 to 2029 to address this immediate need. 43,000 visas will be
available to the horticulture sector in 2025, with another 2,000
visas for poultry. Further detail of the number of visas
available for 2026 to 2029 will be set out later this
year.
The
government has ramped up its support for the use of automation in
the sector to reduce the reliance on migrant workers whilst
introducing measures to promote British workers into
agriculture.
This will
start with immediate work to fully automate a group of major
packhouses in 12 to 18 months, which will improve understanding
of the government support needed to make fully automated
packhouses universally viable. Information learned from this will
help inform our planned £50 million package of packhouse
automation funding, with further details to be announced later
this year to cover 2024-25 and 2025-26.
The
government will also work with technology companies to accelerate
the development of robotic crop harvesters – aiming to bring
prototypes on a par with human pickers in three to five years.
This will help make the UK food supply chain the most
cutting-edge in the world.
The
announcement comes after the Prime Minister announced the
largest ever round of farming
grants at the NFU Conference earlier this year -
with a total of £427 million on offer to farmers, doubling the
investment in productivity schemes.
It comes
ahead of the second annual Farm to Fork Summit, which will be
hosted by the Prime Minister in Downing Street on 14 May,
bringing together representatives across the UK food supply chain
to drive forward work to ensure British farming has the support
and backing it needs to thrive for generations to
come.
Environment
Secretary
said:
“We have a
world-class food and drink sector, and the measures announced
today will strengthen this by boosting funding for the
cutting-edge technology that will reduce reliance on migrant
labour in the long term.”
“Businesses
do best when they can plan effectively for the future, which is
why we've extended the seasonal worker visa route until 2029 to
give farmers and growers the certainty they need to
thrive.”
The
government will also work to improve the attractiveness of the
sector for domestic workers, delivering regional recruitment
strategies to support jobseekers into roles in food and farming,
and building greater collaboration between government, industry
and education providers. This includes:
- Collaborating with the Food and Drink Sector Council's Sector
Attractiveness Project Group to improve awareness of the diverse
range of opportunities and career paths across the UK food
chain.
- Provided seed funding to establish the Institute for
Agriculture and Horticulture (TIAH), a new industry body that
will support professional career development.
- Working with the Department for Work and Pensions to deliver
regional recruitment strategies that utilise its Jobcentre Plus
network to give jobseekers the skills and knowledge they need to
enter roles across the food and farming sector.
