Seasonal Labour Force March 30, 2016 12:00 am The NFU is calling on the Government to introduce a new student workers scheme, open to agricultural students from all over the world to help with seasonal harvest work. The call follows the results of its 2015 End of Season Horticultural Survey, which it has labelled as ‘very worrying’. The survey reveals that 29% of respondents experienced labour problems in 2015. This rose to 43% in the labour- intensive fruit sector. Furthermore growers are expecting the availability of labour to decrease even further between 2016 and 2018. The Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme (SAWS) ended in 2013 and this is the first survey to show that growers are experiencing difficulties in obtaining adequate labour.
