Farm Workers in Scottish Agriculture: Case Studies in the International Seasonal Migrant Labour Market
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Farm Workers in Scottish Agriculture: Case Studies in the International Seasonal Migrant Labour Market. Commissioned report for the Scottish Government Project No. CR2016/25 Authors: Steven Thomson1, Rob Mc Morran1, Joshua Bird1, Jane Atterton1, Lorna Pate1, Elliot Meador1, Philomena De Lima2, Paul Milbourne3 1 Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) 2 University of the Highlands and Islands 3 University of Cardiff March 2018 Photos: Courtesy of Castleton Fruit Farm https://www.castletonfruit.co.uk/ The views expressed in this report are those of the researchers and do not necessarily represent those of the Scottish Government or Scottish Ministers. Acknowledgements The researchers would like to thank all the participants and advisors to this study, for sharing their time and experience. We specifically would like to thank the individuals that gave their time and effort in Research Advisory Group Scottish Government, providing information throughout the course National Farmers Union Scotland of the project. In particular, we would have Gangmasters & Labour Abuse Authority been unable to provide such a Scottish Land & Estates comprehensive understanding of a complex Association of Labour Providers system without detailed explanations of how seasonal labour provision operates in practice from a dedicated group of people. This group included farmers, labour providers, processors, agencies and the Research Advisory Group (established by the Rural and Environment Science and Analytical Services division within the Scottish Government). The openness of many farm businesses was extremely welcomed, and a particular debt of gratitude is owed to those farms that facilitated access to their workforces. The report findings remind us that the sector is reliant on thousands of hard working people from highly varied backgrounds and geographies, who come to Scotland to work hard and earn a living. We would like to offer a special note of thanks to all of the seasonal workers from across the case study farms, many of whom gave up their free time willingly, for sharing their views, observations and insights. The research team now have a much greater appreciation of the contribution those workers play in (i) allowing the sector to prosper, (ii) contributing to local economies, and (iii) ultimately helping deliver growth to Scotland’s economy. i Executive Summary The seasonal nature and physical demands of agricultural work has resulted in some sectors of the Scottish industry, such as horticulture and dairy, becoming increasingly reliant on a supply of labour from outside the UK. Retaining access to this seasonal labour is critical to maintaining competitiveness in an increasingly global industry, and many farmers and labour providers have voiced concerns about potential future labour challenges. This report presents key findings from a project which aimed to provide a better understanding of the use of seasonal workers of non-UK origin in Scottish agriculture. Evidence was collected from a range of sources including Scottish Government administrative data, surveys of farmers and seasonal migrant workers, farmer and wider stakeholder interviews, and group interviews with seasonal migrant workers. The key findings of the study are reported below. There has been a long term decline in the availability and willingness of the local Scottish and wider UK labour pool to work seasonally on farms. This historic labour resource has been substituted by non-UK workers, initially from Poland, the Czech Republic, Russia and Ukraine. With the accession of the Eastern European countries to the EU in 2004, labour mobility increased from these countries, including Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, etc. Since the accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the EU in 2007 there has been an increased reliance on workers from these countries to fill seasonal labour need, particularly after the prohibition of non-EU workers as the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme (SAWS) changed. Bulgarian and Romanian workers remain fundamental to the sector, accounting for an estimated 60% of the seasonal migrant workforce currently employed in Scottish agriculture. The seasonal EU workforce is considered to be “motivated, reliable, hard-working and honest”, and the prevalence of workers from different countries reflects the economic performance of these countries relative to Scotland. Business perspectives on the importance of seasonal migrant workers The importance of migrant workers (both seasonal and permanent) to all aspects of the agricultural supply chain was repeatedly stressed by farm businesses and labour providers, with a key link evident between seasonal workers on farms (providing raw product) and seasonal/permanent migrant workers in packhouses (preparing products for the market). Nearly two-thirds of farmers said that they were likely to switch to other agricultural activities without access to their migrant workforce, with over half saying they would likely diversify their business into non-agricultural activities. Without access to migrant labour, horticulture businesses reported a high likelihood that they would either downscale their business or cease production. Over two thirds of the farm businesses thought there was no real opportunity to substitute labour from the local market and only a fifth of the businesses felt that they would be likely to maintain their existing business structure without an effective and consistent seasonal workforce. ii The scale of the seasonal migrant workforce in Scotland It is conservatively estimated that there were 9,255 seasonal migrant workers engaged in Scottish agriculture during 2017 (including 900 employed directly by labour providers). About 25% work on more than one farm in the UK and there is also transition to other sectors of work, in particular food processing and hospitality. It is challenging to estimate the extent of seasonal migrant labour use in Scotland for a variety of reasons: (i) variance in the proportion of labour directly employed on farms compared to that indirectly employed through labour providers; (ii) incomplete estimates of seasonal migrant labour provision in administrative databases; (iii) farm businesses leasing their land to specialist growers who undertake all of the farming activity; (iv) the transitory nature of some migrant labour – working on multiple farms. Using the project survey data, the Scottish Government’s June Agricultural Census and other published data, estimates of the overall seasonal migrant workforce engaged in Scottish agriculture were made and are summarised in Table 1. Table 1 Estimated scale of the seasonal migrant workforce engaged in Scottish Agriculture (2017) Estimated Workers Protected soft fruit 6,694 Field fruits Strawberry, Raspberry and Blueberries 567 Other Soft Fruit (including blackcurrants) 64 Potatoes 810 Flowers and Bulbs 223 Vegetables Cabbages 65 Calabrese 216 Cauliflower 39 Brussels Sprouts 281 Rhubarb 9 Other Veg for human consumption 289 TOTAL SEASONAL MIGRANT WORKFORCE 9,255 The use of a large scale seasonal migrant workforce is concentrated on a small number of very intensive horticulture units. For example, 19 of the businesses responding to the farm business survey accounted for 90% of the workforce and workdays of all survey respondents. The role of labour providers and recruitment agencies Registered ‘gangmasters’ either act as recruitment agencies for the industry or as suppliers of short-term contract labour on farms (labour providers). Both forms are regulated by the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority, and are scrutinised over issues such as workplace health and safety, training, working hours, overtime, holidays, sick-pay, etc. There are often long-term working relationships between farmers and labour providers, built on mutual trust. iii Farm businesses with high seasonal labour demand, in particular soft fruit businesses, revealed a general preference for directly employing migrant labour, although many used registered labour providers during peak periods or recruitment agencies to help source workers. Those in the field vegetable and flower sectors tended to have a preference for using labour providers to meet their seasonal labour demands. Despite some farms expressing reservations over the use of labour providers and recruitment agencies, for parts of the industry they are considered a vital, flexible and trustworthy source of temporary labour that can be hired depending on need. Many labour providers supply workers into a wide array of non-agricultural industries, but there are a few that specialise in agricultural work, largely servicing the potato and field vegetable sectors. These agricultural specialists have strong relationships with their farming clients and work hard at recruiting and maintaining their workforce to be able to undertake a wide variety of tasks. Labour provider employees generally have their own accommodation and are therefore usually more permanently located in Scotland, or follow a regular multi- season work pattern. Labour providers are often asked to provide services to farms on a ‘just-in-time’ basis, which can lead to logistical challenges for the business. Seasonal Migrant Worker Perspectives The key motivations for non-UK seasonal workers choosing to work on Scottish farms were: (i) earnings potential linked to enhanced quality of life and goals; (ii) conditions of work relative to home countries; and (iii) familiarity, recommendations and farm reputations. Wage motives were driven by significant gaps in