Recruitment firm advertising for fruit pickers this summer gets just TWO applications out of 10,000 from Brits
- Around 99% of seasonal fruit pickers in the UK were foreign nationals, in 2017
- One firm had 10,000 applications for the role and just two were British nationals
- Britain could bring back a summer foreign farm worker scheme after Brexit
Ten thousand people applied for a job picking fruit at UK farms this summer – and two of them were British.
Seasonal workers are flocking to farms to make money while the sun shines, yet the physical demand, long hours and often low pay is not enough to entice most Brits, it appears.
The startling revelation over the distaste for the work comes as the National Farmers Union said of the 60,000 seasonal workers, barely one per cent was British in 2017.
One recruitment company revealed they almost exclusively have applications from foreign nationals.
Recruitment company Concordia that supplies workers to about 200 British farms has seen first-hand how the job is viewed as unattractive.
Stephanie Maurel, chief executive of told the Washington Post: ‘We’ve had two applications out of 10,000.
‘It’s statistically quite damning.’
Workers on the award winning Snell family farm can earn up to £100 per day and are almost exclusively foreign nationals
According to Maurel the physical toll of the job, and the fact farms are not in cities with high unemployment rates are to blame for the lack of Brits taking on the job.
There is often no way of people being able to afford to reach the farms for the work, unless they live nearby, the recruitment boss said.
European workers are often offered accommodation in a trailer in the area while they work.
This summer 300 workers are running the farm at AJ and CI Snell in Herefordshire.
Among them are four university students and graduates.
Blackberry harvester Max Hughes, 20, is one of them. He starts every day at 5am which he describes as often being ‘dull’.
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However, he believes he will be able to put away thousands of pounds if he works hard for six days per week, for six weeks.
Co-worker Lewis Hiscox, 24, took the job after leaving Harper Adams University.
He said: ‘A lot of kids would never do this kind of work,’ says a recent graduate, who was working on the blackcurrant harvester, too.
‘They’d rather give London a try for more money, more fun. Also, there’s the snob thing. Farm work is associated with Eastern Europeans,’ meaning ‘work for poor people’.
Ms Maurel revealed how many Brits on the farms ‘don’t last a week’.
The owner of the award winning farm, Christine Snell said her and husband Anthony have been unable to get British staff.
She said: ‘That’s quite something, isn’t it.
‘We want to get the message across: If we could recruit British workers, we would, but we cannot.’
Max Hughes, 20, a student working at A.J. & C.I. Snell, Hereford, believes he could save £3,000 this summer through seasonal work
Those in the farming industry have revealed they have concerns about how they will be affected by Brexit.
If the freedom of movement agreement is taken away by the UK leaving the single market, it is unlikely workers will come for the summer.
However, there is hope the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme will be re-started.
Speaking at the NFU Mutual conference in Birmingham in February, Environment secretary Michael Gove hinted a similar programme will return.
He said: ‘In addition, the government’s migration advisory committee are reviewing the shape of immigration policy after we’re free of EU constraints.
‘I’ve explained to them that we will need continued access to skilled labour if we’re to keep our farming sector productive and profitable.
‘Whether it’s stockmen and dairy workers or the official vets in our abattoirs, 90 per cent of whom are from EU27 nations, agriculture needs access to foreign workers.’
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