The subject of the future of the Seasonal Agricultural Workers’ Scheme again proved a hot topic at this year’s Fruit Focus, with farming minister Jim Paice admitting DEFRA will need to persuade the government, which is currently reviewing the strategy, to secure the scheme’s future.
During the debate NFU president Peter Kendall highlighted the importance of the scheme to the industry. “We would not harvest a fraction of our fruit and vegetables without having a SAWS scheme in place,” he said.
Paice admitted he and immigration minister Damian Green were “carefully considering what happens next,” amid complaints from NFU horticulture board member Anthony Snell that UK agriculture was behind nations such as the US which effectively rely on foreign workers.
“These workers are well motivated, pay tax and national insurance and they go home - there should be no debate,” explained Snell.
Paice responded by pointing out that workers from EU countries such as Romania and Bulgaria could still enter the UK after SAWS expired, but Kendall was keen to stress the NFU’s concerns.
“We should make sure we have a successor scheme, which we can wind back if we find we can access those people from accession countries. There are big politics at play - we will have to work doubly hard to put our argument across,” said Kendall.
Citing the NFU’s recently launched Catalyst for Change report, Kendall also revealed his desire to see domestic growers produce a larger portion of the food consumed in the UK and the need for an overhaul of the current supply chain in order to make retailers invest in producers with a more long-term approach.
“We don’t want to wind our balance sheets down to ensure supermarkets get a great deal,” said Kendall.
