Sugden: ‘Lack of migrant labour impacting industry’

Ms Sugden recently questioned Minister of Agriculture Environment and Rural Affairs Edwin Poots about the shortage using Assembly questions.

He said industry stakeholders blamed new UK-wide immigration rules for the shortfall.

“It is deeply concerning that in just one year the migrant workforce in the entire agri-food sector has nearly halved – from 20.6 per cent in 2019 to 10.7 per cent in 2020,” Ms Sugden said. “This drop in the supply of labour has not been met from other sources.

“Agriculture is Northern Ireland’s largest industry and many thousands of people depend on it for their livelihoods. A shock of this magnitude must be dealt with at the highest level, so that our produce is able to be processed in the timely way that such products require.”

Mr Poots said the shortfall in labour in the agri-food sector was “significant and growing”, despite competitive wages and incentives. Industry representatives had identified an English language requirement as part of new immigration rules as “a particular barrier to entry” for those skill levels where it was possible to obtain working visas.

Ms Sugden continued: “We are seeing labour shortages in many industries – both here and in the rest of the UK. The changing nature of both our home-grown and migrant workforces – in part because of Brexit, but compounded by the pandemic – means that wholesale changes must be made and made quickly.

“I would urge the minister to continue to engage with both industry stakeholders and members of the British government in Whitehall. This is clearly not just a Northern Irish problem, but businesses here need a voice – and need to be listened to – so that the immediate issues threatening our industries are dealt with.”