Labour Shortage review launched by Defra

Defra has launched an Independent Review into Labour Shortages in the food supply chain, which will be chaired by John Shropshire OBE. The review was promised as part of the Government’s new Food Strategy, which was published in June this year and it will consider the challenges facing food and farming businesses to recruit and retain the labour they require and will provide recommendations for industry and Government to explore.

Mr Shropshire’s background is in horticulture and he is currently chairman of his family business G’s Fresh Limited. He will be joined on the expert panel by Fiona Dawson CBE, Martin Ford, William Kendall, Dr David Llewellyn ​CBE and Helen Sisson.

The review will specifically consider primary producers in the pig industry, as well as the processing sector. The labour challenges differ significantly throughout the supply chain and the NPA will be contributing to the debate and highlighting the problems of farm recruitment as well as the impact of labour shortages in processing, which has been felt so acutely by the industry in recent times.

Commenting on the review, the NPA’s Charlie Dewhirst said: “We have made the case very strongly to Government in the last two years that policies need to change to support domestic recruitment into agriculture and facilitate easier access to foreign workers where necessary. We welcome the opportunity to engage in this process and we hope that Mr Shropshire and his panel recommend some concrete solutions that aid recruitment into the pig industry.”