The government provides long-term security for food workforce needs

The Government is tackling labor shortages in the food supply chain, funding technology to reduce reliance on migrant labor and providing certainty and clarity for farms and other food businesses across the UK.

In its response to John Shropshires Independent Review into job shortages in the food supply chain, the Government will implement a range of new measures to support the industry. This includes:

• extending the seasonal visa pathway for workers for five years until 2029 to give businesses time to plan effectively;
• up to 50 million in further funding for new technology to support fully automated packaging and more support to follow to bring robotic harvesters on par with human harvesters in three to five years;
• creating a comprehensive strategy to improve skills provision and attract domestic workers.

Recognizing the need for farmers and growers to have time to invest in automation and move away from reliance on migrant labour, the seasonal worker visa pathway has been extended for five years from 2025 to 2029 to address this immediate need. 43,000 visas will be available for the horticulture sector in 2025, with another 2,000 visas for poultry. Further details of the number of visas available for 2026-2029 will be determined later this year.

The government has increased its support for the use of automation in the sector to reduce reliance on migrant workers, while introducing measures to promote British workers in agriculture.

This will begin with immediate work to fully automate a core set of packaging in 12 to 18 months, which will improve understanding of the government support needed to make fully automated packaging universally applicable. The information learned from this will help inform our planned £50m package of funding for parcel automation, with further details to be announced later this year to cover 2024-25 and 2025-26.

The government will also work with technology companies to accelerate the development of robotic crop harvesters that aim to bring prototypes on par with human harvesters in three to five years. This will help make the UK food supply chain the most advanced in the world.

The announcement comes after the Prime Minister announced the largest ever round of agricultural grants at the NFU Conference earlier this year – with a total of £427 million on offer to farmers, doubling investment in productivity schemes.

It comes ahead of the second annual Farm to Fork Summit, which will be hosted by the Prime Minister in Downing Street on 14 May, bringing together representatives across the UK food supply chain to drive forward work to ensure that British agriculture may have its support and backing. it should thrive for generations to come.

Environment Secretary Steve Barclay said:

We have a world-class food and drink sector and the measures announced today will strengthen this by increasing funding for cutting-edge technology that will reduce our reliance on migrant labor in the long term.

Businesses do best when they can plan effectively for the future, which is why we've extended the seasonal worker visa pathway until 2029 to give farmers and growers the security they need to thrive.

The government will also work to improve the attractiveness of the sector for domestic workers, by providing regional recruitment strategies to support jobseekers in roles in food and agriculture, and building greater collaboration between government, industry and education providers. This includes:

• Working with the Food and Drink Sector Councils Sector Attractiveness Project Group to improve awareness of the variety of opportunities and career paths in the UK food chain.
• It provided seed funding to establish the Institute of Agriculture and Horticulture (TIAH), a new industry body that will support professional career development.
• Working with the Department for Work and Pensions to deliver regional recruitment strategies that use its Jobcentre Plus network to give jobseekers the skills and knowledge they need to enter roles across the food and farming sector.