Feeding the nation: labour constraints inquiry

The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee is launching an inquiry into the challenges to the food supply chain from shortages of workers. UK food production depends on securing an adequate supply of labour to get the harvest in and to process the produce. But farm and factory businesses have reported, both prior to and since the EU referendum, that they find it hard to hire enough workers. Each year farms rely on tens of thousands of temporary workers, with some 80,000 of these workers currently coming from outside the UK.