2.
PO funding available for investment
The Government has confirmed that it will continue
to fund POs at the current level of £35 million a year
until the end of the current parliament – expected to
be 2022 – even if the UK leaves the EU without a deal.
With half of all British fruit and veg sold through the
33 members of the scheme, the 50 per cent funding
for capital investment projects and marketing that it
provides means that qualifying organisations are in
a position to move forward with planned investment,
or to make investments which qualify for this funding
source.
During negotiations ministers and Defra officials are
reported to have been positive about the concept of
the PO scheme and the value that it delivers to the
economy. Some have even suggested that when the
current scheme does end, there may be the scope to
extend such a support scheme beyond the current
model, which requires growers to be working in
partnership, thus enabling private companies to benefit.
3.
Positive signs on labour
The labour crunch has hit the fresh
produce sector hard over the last few
years. Despite recent comments by
the head of the Migration Advisory
Committee (MAC) that suggested
contraction of the produce sector and
higher food prices would not be the
“end of the earth” for the economy, the
indications are that the government
is listening to groups such as the
NFU about the need for labour to
pick and pack produce. Even the MAC
acknowledges that the agricultural
market for seasonal workers is “unlike
any other labour market.”
In the summer of 2017, NFU data
suggested that the industry was around
4,500 people short of the necessary
number of seasonal workers, with the
number of seasonal workers dropping by
17% on the previous year. The proportion
of returnees, who are important due
22
to their experience, also dropped
significantly from 65% to 33%, a drop
of nearly 50%. Early indications and
anecdotal evidence suggests that the
situation this year has been even worse;
one labour statistic gathered implied
that from 10,000 advertised jobs only
two applicants were from the UK.
Therefore, Home Secretary Sajid Javid’s
announcement of a pilot scheme for
agricultural seasonal labour has been
an unprecedented win for the sector.
While six-month visas for up to 2,500
workers a year between Spring 2019 and
December 2020, falls well below the 20-
30,000 workers under the previous SAWS
scheme, as observers have pointed out,
no other sector of the economy has been
singled out for special treatment to help
with the employment of labour from
overseas, not even the National Health
Service. This pilot is also in addition
to any measures in the long-awaited
Immigration Bill.