Farming Today

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Farming Today: 17/12/21 Rows over farm workers, the ongoing pig cull, Christmas cheese

17/12/21 Rows over farm workers, the ongoing pig cull, Christmas cheese

BBC Radio 4 - Farming Today, 17/12/21 Rows over farm workers, the ongoing pig cull, Christmas cheese

Flower farms added to seasonal worker visas, but recruiting in time will be challenging.

There are rows over visas for butchers, as more pigs are culled on farms. Flower farms are added to the seasonal workers visa scheme, but recruiting in time will be challenging.

A shortage of butchers in meat processing plants means they’re taking fewer pigs. As pigs back-up on farms farmers run out of room and healthy pigs have to be killed. We hear from a vet who's involved both in culling and training others to cull.

The Immigration Minster, Kevin Foster, told MPs that the Government had done everything asked of it to help attract more butchers from abroad to alleviate problems here, but said more pork processors should register to sponsor visas.  Tony Goodger from the Association of Independent Meat Suppliers says Mr Foster needs to check his facts.

Earlier this year UK daffodil growers told us they’d lost a quarter of their crop as they couldn’t find enough people to pick it.  The Government is to extend the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Pilot scheme to cover flower farms, not just farms that produce food. A daffodil grower tells us that's good news, but recruiting enough people to start start picking this month will be a challenge.

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17/12/21 Rows over farm workers, the ongoing pig cull, Christmas cheese

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