Farmers in the East warn Prime Minister's economic plan won't fix labour shortage
Boris Johnson says he wants to implement "long overdue change" to immigration, yesterday.
The Prime Minister's economic plan won't fix the current labour shortages at East Anglia's Farms.
That's according to our National Farmers Union here in the East.
It comes after Boris Johnson set out his plan for "high wages" and "long overdue change" to immigration, yesterday at the Conservative Party Conference.
In his closing speech the Prime Minister defended his strategy of restricting cheaper labour from abroad.
The NFU say the Government "shouldn't" and "cannot" ignore the national labour shortages that are affecting farmers.
Charles Hesketh from the organisations told us that many farmers currently feel abandoned by the Government.
"It effectively feels that the drawbridge has been pulled up overnight.
"We've just had a massive shortage of the usual labour".
"We've seen shortages in abattoirs, which is why many have been forced to cull animals. It's a widespread problem, affecting all different areas of food and farming".
He went on to say that he's sceptical about whether the Government fully understands the importance of foreign workers to East Anglia's farms.
"They are so embedded into their business model and set-ups. We've been trying really hard to get MPs to come onto farms, we don't feel like they've been giving the sector enough attention. Ultimately, we feel a bit batted to the side, at the moment".
Mr Hesketh also told us that their shortages are already starting to affect local farms.
"I've heard today of a well-respected farmer of fifty years in the area, who's gone out of business solely due to labour shortages".
"When some of these farms cease trading, they may not come back. In the UK, we want to continue to produce food domestically , we're about sixty per cent efficient at the moment. I think this is really important for our own security".
Mr Hesketh concluded by saying that the Prime Ministers vision will take time to implement.
"The notion that we can replace experienced, high-skilled foreign work-force with just UK workers, is not realistically going to happen in the short-term.
"People have been coming here for many years and they've been very skilled".