Farming Today

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Farming Today: 25/09/20 - Seasonal workers, agricultural T-Levels, the Sustainable Farming Incentive and curlews

25/09/20 - Seasonal workers, agricultural T-Levels, the Sustainable Farming Incentive and curlews

BBC Radio 4 - Farming Today, 25/09/20 - Seasonal workers, agricultural T-Levels, the Sustainable Farming Incentive and curlews

Recruitment companies warn they can’t promise to find seasonal farm workers next year.

With the end of Freedom of Movement in January, and the Seasonal Workers Scheme also due to end, some recruitment companies say they can't promise to find workers for next year.

Companies recruiting people from Eastern Europe to work on British farms are warning they won’t be recruiting next year. The move could leave hundreds of farmers without pickers. British farmers use about 70,000 seasonal workers. EU freedom of movement ends at the beginning of next year - the government’s pilot Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme currently allows 10,000 agricultural workers from outside the EU  - but that ends in March. 

We get a sneak preview of the new T-Level in farming - it's for students who've done their GCSE's and want to go on to study vocationally. T-levels are mostly classroom based, take 2 years to do, and are worth the same as 3 A-Levels. 

What is the SFI? It's the Sustainable Farming Incentive and it's being considered by DEFRA to act as a stepping stone between the EU's Common Agricultural Policy and the new Environmental Land Management Schemes. Details should be announced in the next few months.

And some cheering news. Five curlew chicks saved from a wild fire in Northern Ireland have been released into the wild.

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Farming Today

25/09/20 - Seasonal workers, agricultural T-Levels, the Sustainable Farming Incentive and curlews

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