British farmers said “workshy” locals who don’t want to do manual labour are causing them to employ foreign workers from thousands of miles away.
There has been a surge in workers arriving on six-month visas from former Soviet nations outside the EU including Tajikistan, some 3,600 miles away.
Fruit and veg farmers across Britain have heaped praise on their new workforce, who can earn up to £150 per day compared with a monthly wage of £200 at home.
However, they also voiced frustrations at local workers who turn their noses up at 5am starts and working outside through winter.
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Anthony and Christine Snell employ 250 seasonal workers for six months of the year to pick soft fruit at their farm in Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire.
Snell, who has run Windmill Hill Fruits since 1998, said: “The only reason we have seasonal workers is because we can’t get local people to do the jobs.
“It just isn’t realistic to recruit Brits. It isn’t easy work, we start picking at 5am in the summer and all the workers live on site, and a lot of people wouldn’t want to be doing that.
“British people are put off by the work and the seasonal nature because it is only six months of the year. We have a fantastic relationship with our workers, they are looked after very well and paid well.
“They are happy with the arrangement and we have a great level of returns which is good for us because they are already fully trained.”
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Windmill Hill Fruits near Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire.
One of those reaping the rewards is a 24-year-old Tajik vegetable picker called Ali. He says he’s earned enough cash to help him buy two properties back home, saying: “I’m a rich man.”
Snell said they don’t struggle to recruit good staff from abroad and often see workers returning year after year but wages at the farm have doubled since 2014, putting huge pressure on profits.
Jane Richards, co-owner of 7,000-acre Southern England Farms in Hayle, Cornwall, said: “It is really hard work, it is cold and muddy and can be miserable but I have so much admiration for the workers who do the job.
“The Tajiks and Uzbeks we have here are gorgeous people, they are lovely. We work very hard to help them integrate into the local community but they are generally just there to get their heads down and work and earn money.”
Suella Braverman claimed there was ‘no good reason’ the UK could not train its own fruit and veg pickers.
PA
Richards said she had little hope local workers would ever make up a significant part of the workforce.
Former home secretary Suella Braverman claimed there was ‘no good reason’ the UK could not train its own fruit and veg pickers.
Richards added: “We had five English people picking a few years ago but it was just embarrassing. We sometimes get accused of employing immigrants because they are cheaper but the opposite is true when you consider the bureaucracy involved.
“I don’t care where somebody is from as long as they are here legally and want to work. It’s a pity in Cornwall because there must be people wanting to do it, we just can’t find them.”
