Crops and Food: Waste Disposal

(asked on 12th May 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate his Department has made of the amount of (a) food and (b) ornamental crops that went to waste in 2020 as a result of a shortage of labour for crop picking and processing.


Answered by
Rebecca Pow Portrait
Rebecca Pow
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This question was answered on 21st May 2021

The Government recognises the importance of a reliable source of labour for crop picking and packing, and that it is a key part of bringing in the harvest for the horticultural sector. Defra is working closely with industry to understand labour demand and supply and help our world-leading growers access the labour they need.

The Seasonal Workers Pilot opened in 2019 and is designed to test the effectiveness of our immigration system at supporting UK growers during peak production periods, whilst maintaining robust immigration control. It is also providing a valuable source of labour for the fruit and vegetable growers of the UK helping to ensure the food security of the country. On 22 December 2020, the Government extended the Seasonal Workers Pilot for one year, and expanded the number of visas from 10,000 to 30,000.

The expanded Seasonal Workers Pilot will continue to operate in the edible horticulture sector, to support farmers growing UK fruit and vegetables. This is the sector of agriculture which has the highest dependency on seasonal labour, and is needed to ensure critical food supply chains in the UK are maintained.

This Pilot is not designed to meet the full labour needs of the horticultural sector. Rather we are seeking to evaluate the immigration pilot’s ability to assist in alleviating labour shortages during peak production periods.

In 2021 and beyond, businesses will continue to be able to rely on EU nationals living in the UK with settled or pre-settled status. Almost 4.8 million EU citizens and their families have been granted status under the EU Settlement Scheme to date, and the application deadline is 30 June 2021. EU nationals who have settled status can continue to travel to the UK to do seasonal work in 2021.

The Government is also encouraging the horticulture sector to make employment more attractive to UK domestic workers through offering training, careers options, wage increases and to invest in automation technology.

The information requested on estimates made for the amounts of horticultural produce that went to waste in 2020, or that could go to waste in 2021 is not held by Defra.

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