Fife Council has warned Secretary of State Michael Gove of its fears for the impact of Brexit on the region’s farming and food and drink industries.
Around 6,000 people are employed in Fife’s food and drink sector alone and the local authority is worried it could suffer from a workforce shortage.
As berry farms which employ EU nationals over the summer face a staff crisis, chief executive Steve Grimmond urged the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to find a solution for recruiting seasonal agricultural workers.
Mr Grimmond said Fife Council had “deep concern” about the workforce shortage of many farms in Fife due to Brexit and the drop in the value of the pound.
He said Fife had a strong farming base capable of supplying the biggest food and drink manufacturers locally and internationally-renowned hotels and restaurants.
It was also home to 640 food and drinks businesses, he said.
He told Mr Gove: “Fife Council is therefore concerned that Brexit could leave the Fife industry with reduced capability, particularly skilled staff, a key concern expressed by our companies, impacting on primary and secondary food and drink production in Fife, Scotland and the UK.
“Major providers of soft fruit to the supermarket sector, such as Allandale Farming Company, report to the council that they are experiencing a shortage of workers this season and continued uncertainty in being able to harvest next year and beyond.”
Allanhill Farming Company, near St Andrews, supplies strawberries to major supermarkets and employs a large seasonal staff to pick 70 hectares of plants.
Gordon Mole, the council’s senior manager for business and employability, said: “Fife is renowned for its range of agricultural activity, from direct supply of commodities such as oats and soft fruit to retailers, to delivering through maltsters and grain merchants to the distilling, brewing and flour milling industries.
“With continuing uncertainty surrounding the supply and status of seasonal workers from the European Union, Fife Council asks Ministers to develop and agree a new version of the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme (SAWS), which was discontinued in 2013.
“Fife Council is willing to work with the UK and Scottish governments and representative bodies such as the NFU to help illustrate and understand the challenge to this important sector if solutions to seasonal employment are not implemented as part of Britain’s exit from the European Union.”
Farmers and politicians have called for a scheme to allow people to come to Scotland on a temporary permit to work.
NFU Scotland said there was a lack of confidence among overseas workers in their ability to remain and due to the exchange rate, leaving fruit rotting in the ground.
