25
F
La
b
ou
r
Suppl
y
F
y
oungpeople into ca
r
ee
r
s in t
h
e food and fa
r
ming secto
r
s. D
r
JoeMa
r
s
h
all of t
h
eNational Cent
r
e fo
r
Unive
r
sities and
business said t
h
at t
h
e indust
ry
needed
b
ette
r
connections
wit
h
unive
r
sities. “T
h
e
r
e a
r
e some fantastic pockets of
innovation going on,
b
ut t
h
e
y
a
r
e not necessa
r
il
y
joined up
ac
r
oss t
h
ew
h
ole secto
r
,”
h
ewa
r
ned. Not onl
y
does t
h
is
p
r
esent a
b
a
rr
ie
r
to t
h
e uptake of t
h
e latest tec
h
nolog
y by
t
h
e
indust
ry
,
b
ut it could alsomake ca
r
ee
r
s in fa
r
ming and food
less o
b
vious to students.
Wit
h
a value of £108
b
illion pounds, t
h
e food and fa
r
ming
indust
ry
is t
h
e la
r
gest in t
h
eUK, emplo
y
ing one in eve
ry
eig
h
t
people. As c
h
ai
r
of t
h
eNational Skills Academ
y
fo
r
Food and
D
r
ink, Cam
br
idges
h
i
r
e fa
r
me
r
and consultant Paul Wilkinson
iswell awa
r
e of t
h
e issues of att
r
actingpeople to t
h
e indust
ry
and t
h
en p
r
oviding t
h
emwit
h
app
r
op
r
iate t
r
aining. “T
h
e c
r
isis
in la
b
ou
r
suppl
y
could affect t
h
ew
h
ole indust
ry
,”
h
ewa
r
ned.
“Successwill depend
b
ot
h
on t
h
e
r
ole of fo
r
eignwo
r
ke
r
s and
awell-designed app
r
entices
h
ips sc
h
eme.We need to tackle
t
h
e pe
r
ceived unatt
r
activeness of t
h
e indust
ry
and issues of
social mo
b
ilit
y
, w
h
ilst also st
r
essing t
h
at it is not just a
b
out
h
ig
h
l
y
skilled
r
oles. T
h
e
r
e is a
r
ange of jo
b
s.”
Even if t
h
e indust
ry
manages to solve its potential la
b
ou
r
s
h
o
r
tage, it will onl
y b
e successful if it can g
r
ow economicall
y
,
t
hr
oug
h
t
h
e development of innovative newp
r
oducts and
inc
r
eased t
r
ade. Pa
r
t of t
h
is includes ensu
r
ing t
h
at food is
safe andmeets consume
r
expectations. D
r
Javie
r
Dominguez
ishead of Science, Evidence andresea
r
c
h
at t
h
e Food
Standa
r
ds Agenc
y
and
h
e st
r
essed t
h
at t
h
e o
r
ganisations
p
r
io
r
ities fo
r
t
h
e next five
y
ea
r
s a
r
e all a
b
out t
h
e inte
r
ests of
consume
r
s. “Ou
r
st
r
ateg
y
is a
b
out safe, aut
h
entic and
affo
r
da
b
le food,”
h
e explained. “T
r
anspa
r
enc
y
is at t
h
e co
r
e of
eve
ry
t
h
ingwe do, alongwit
h
sound science.”
Du
r
ing a question and answe
r
session, T
r
ac
y
Wo
r
ceste
r
of
campaign g
r
oup Fa
r
msNot Facto
r
ies questionedw
h
et
h
e
r
Msbatte
r
swas igno
r
ing
h
ome-g
r
own la
b
ou
r
w
h
en s
h
e
wa
r
ned of c
r
ops
r
otting in t
h
e field. “W
h
en
y
ou sa
y
t
h
at
y
ou
ThE FrUITGrOWEr •
FEbrUAry 2017
ef
r
uitg
r
owe
r
.co.uk
a
r
ewo
rr
ied a
b
out t
h
e la
b
ou
r
coming in
f
r
om fo
r
eignwo
r
ke
r
s,
h
ow a
b
out
looking at students, and actuall
y
giving
some of t
h
e funding to t
h
em?” s
h
e
asked. “It could
b
e an incentive, and it
could
b
e pa
y
ment,
r
at
h
e
r
t
h
an t
h
e
h
uge
num
b
e
r
s t
h
at a
r
e now una
b
le to find a
jo
b
.”
howeve
r
, Minettebatte
r
s said t
h
at
t
h
is did not
r
eflect t
h
e
r
ealit
y
on t
h
e
g
r
ound: “All of ou
r
g
r
owe
r
swould love
to emplo
y
UKwo
r
ke
r
s, and t
h
e
y
used
to. It’s
b
een a cultu
r
al c
h
ange t
h
at
h
as
just
h
appened, andwe
h
aven’t
r
eall
y
taken an
y
notice of it,
b
ecausewe
didn’t need to. Now all ou
r
g
r
owe
r
swill
adve
r
tise fo
r
UKwo
r
ke
r
s, and t
h
e
y
get
no take-up. One g
r
owe
r
w
h
o
adve
r
tised ea
r
lie
r
in t
h
e
y
ea
r
, out of 600 jo
b
s
h
e got sixUK
applicants. Ou
r
g
r
owe
r
s live in ve
ry
r
u
r
al locations,
y
ou
h
ave
togo and live on site, to
h
a
r
vest t
h
e f
r
uit. So fo
r
students to
go andmove out of t
h
ei
r
h
omes in u
rb
an a
r
eas and go and
live in ve
ry
r
u
r
al locations, t
h
e
y
don’t want todo t
h
at.” S
h
e
added t
h
at s
h
e could see t
h
eme
r
its of t
ry
ing to encou
r
age
mo
r
eUK students,
b
ut t
h
at it would not
h
elp solve t
h
e
immediate need fo
r
95,000wo
r
ke
r
s.
◆
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