Pig farmers urged to take part in new Brexit labour survey

Pig farmers are being urged to take part in a new survey seeking to gauge the implications of Brexit for UK agriculture's supply of labour. 

The NFU survey can be accessed here

The NFU said the survey should take around 10 minutes to complete. All responses will be aggregated and analysed anonymously. The survey will remain open until mid-April.

The NFU is a member of a Food Chain Workforce Strategy group, which consists of a number of trade associations across the food and farming industry. The main purpose of the group is to identify the implications of Brexit for the UK food supply chain's access to skills and labour.

The union said: "To help build an evidence base on workforce issues and to gain insight of the current make up, future needs and risks to supply of the UK food sectors workforce we are undertaking a short industry wide survey in conjunction with other members of the group.

"The results of the survey will help to understand industry needs across the food supply chain, in relation to future immigration policy and to enable representative bodies in the food chain to inform Government to help shape policy development."

The NPA undertook an online survey last year, looking at the extent to which the pork supply chain was reliant on EU labour. It found:   

• 58% of businesses across the supply chain employed at least one migrant worker 
• Nearly 20% employed between 11 and 50 
• More than 90% of migrant workers were employed on a full-time basis 
• 20% said their businesses would not survive without migrant labour.