A report by the Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee (EFRA) has indicated that the UK food production industry would “permanently” shrink unless problems were dealt with. MPs have warned that labour shortages as a result of Brexit and the pandemic are set to make Britain more dependent on food imports.
MPs also added that crops are going unharvested and rotting in the fields, as seasonal agricultural labourers from the EU now need to apply for a work scheme, and as a result, many are staying away.
The EFRA report states that clear evidence was found “that labour shortages have badly affected the food and farming industry — threatening food security, the welfare of animals and the mental health of those working in the sector. The food sector is the UK’s largest manufacturing sector but faces permanent shrinkage if a failure to address its acute labour shortages leads to wage rises, price increases, reduced competitiveness and, ultimately, food production being exported and increased imports”.
The same committee also said in January this year that “blind optimism” shown by ministers about their plan for post-Brexit farming subsidies could drive UK farms out of business and also increase reliance on food imports.
Environment Committee MPs commented that they were “struck by government’s failure to grasp the labour issues” now facing the food sector. They called on ministers to radically shift their attitudes; claiming that the government had failed to demonstrate a “strong understanding” of the issues and had even sought in some instances “to pass the blame onto the sector on the basis of incorrect information about its own immigration system”.
Neil Parish, the Conservative MP who chairs the committee, said: “In 2021 farmers faced an extraordinary situation — crops were being left to rot in the fields and healthy pigs were culled due to a lack of workers. This has serious implications for the well-being of the people who put food on our tables today and in the future.”