The government is putting pressure on migrant workers to work in the UK on temporary visas for up to a year to alleviate labor shortages in the food and beverage sector.
To address the crisis in the food supply chain, the NFU, the dairy UK and the British Meat Processing Association have raised their voices in a series of solutions.
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The call for immediate action comes after an industry-wide report showed an average of 13% vacancies in the food and beverage sector – more than 500,000 jobs.
The agricultural industry wants the government to introduce a 12-month CV-19 recovery visa to solve the emergency crisis.
This will be a “short-term adjustment” to allow long-term solutions to be explored and put in place.
The government has also suggested that skilled workers, including butchers and HVV drivers, be added to the shortlist and expand the UK’s current staff program.
The meat sector has been severely affected
Meat processing is one of the sectors affected by the shortage of labor.
Nick Allen, chief executive of the British Meat Processing Association (BPA), said that after Brexit, immigration laws had closed the fat industry to “full labor crisis” and closed access to skilled and experienced foreign workers.
“Their (government) solution is just to tell them to keep hiring British workers and then go back,” Mr Allen said. But it’s not that simple, at least in the short term.
BMAPA believes that the food and beverage sector will eventually adapt to the “new standard” created by Brexit and the epidemic.
But he said it was based on a “practical view” by allowing UK food security workers to fill the current labor gap.
Pig market analyst Peter Crychton described the current situation in the sector as a “guarantee of results”: “a shortage of qualified veterinarians, truck drivers, supply and cold store space, to name a few.”
Exodus
Since the outbreak, 1.3 million foreign workers have not left the United Kingdom.
Agricultural businesses are under pressure from the next labor vacancies, with some horticultural farms experiencing a 34% shortage, despite hiring pool workers from the UK and rising wages.
NFU Vice President Tom Bradshaw believes that the creation of a hot-wage system will not help to increase the number of workers, as many miscreants live in cities and towns far from farming.
“A short-term CV rehabilitation visa, along with a permanent staffing program, will be an effective and transparent way to meet the needs of the industry today,” Mr Bradshaw said.
It will also give us time to invest in domestic manpower skills and recruitment by providing long-term stability so that we can hire the people we need to continue to deliver quality, nutritious and nutritious food.
A report by Grant Thornton, an accounting and consulting team, called on the Refugee Advisory Committee to review the impact of free movement on food and agriculture.
Food is now gone
A Scottish Farmers’ Cooperative has warned of further losses this week due to its inability to market four million cauliflower and broccoli heads.
Cuban-based East Scotland farmers are to blame for the labor and travel problems, which have led to delays in the production of produce.
Due to the weather conditions, the price of the crop was six weeks, with a shelf life of five to seven days, and more than two weeks, said managing director Andrew Ficheni.
“This season is marked by a lack of daily labor and the inability to call for more resources if necessary.”
He also emphasized an issue with the quality and skills of the workforce.