Farming Today

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Farming Today: 16/12/22 - Labour shortages, farmhouse cheese and phosphorous

16/12/22 - Labour shortages, farmhouse cheese and phosphorous

BBC Radio 4 - Farming Today, 16/12/22 - Labour shortages, farmhouse cheese and phosphorous

We hear fresh pleas for more clarity on seasonal workers.

'Please work with us!' That’s the message to the government this morning from labour providers who say there are severe staff shortages in food and farming.

“Please work with us!” That’s the message to the Government this morning from labour providers who say there are severe staff shortages in food and farming and 60 per cent of farmers and manufacturers expect they won’t have enough workers next year. Tis the season for an announcement on seasonal worker visas - last year it came on Christmas Eve, heralding 40,000 6-month visas for people coming from abroad to work on UK farms and in poultry processing this year. We understand the exact numbers for NEXT year are currently being discussed by the Home Office and DEFRA. The National Farmers Union have called for 55 thousand visas - but the Immigration Minister, Robert Jenrick, recently told the House of Commons that he felt 40,000 a year “is approximately the right number” and pointed out that this year there were 1,400 visas left unused.

Our week long travel through the world of cheese culminates in a trip to the Yorkshire dales where it’s believed versions of Wensleydale were first made a thousand years ago. Farmhouse production came to an end after the second world war but it’s making a come-back and bringing benefits to smaller farm businesses.

And the UK needs to reduce its reliance on ‘risky import markets’ for phosphorous and instead develop innovative ways of recovering it from animal manures and wastewater. That’s the advice in the UK Phosphorous Transformation Strategy, which has just been released. Phosphorus is needed for biological processes in plants and animals. At the moment the UK imports 174,000 tons a year - mainly from Russia, China and Morocco - and prices have been impacted by the war in Ukraine.

Presented by Charlotte Smith
Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Heather Simons

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16/12/22 - Labour shortages, farmhouse cheese and phosphorous

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