Dairy cooperative Arla Foods has urged Government to provide farmers with more support.

Arla said that its new data had highlighted “growing pressures” in the food and farming sectors due to shortages of available labour.

More than half the farmers surveyed said it is “harder than ever” to recruit, whilst 86% of farmers with vacancies said that they had very few or no applicants with the right skills.

The survey found that on average farmers are paying staff 27% more than they were at the end of 2019, before the pandemic and the end of free movement of people from the EU. The pressure this is placing on the cost of food is clear, said Arla, highlighting that these developments were putting the UK’s food security under pressure.

“If we want farmers to continue to put food on the table in millions of homes around the country they need help.”

Bas Padberg, managing director at Arla Foods, commented: “Our farmers have told us for some time that they are facing real challenges with the state of the labour market. This new data bears out their concerns and the potential impact on food prices and food security.

“If we want our farmers to continue to put food on the table in millions of homes around the country they need help. We’re calling on the Government and industry to work together to bring people into our exciting sector, and then to give them the skills and equipment they need to be fully productive. What Ministers have said already about driving growth and supporting training is positive; we now need to go further and faster.”

Arla calls for Government action

Arla Foods has set out a list of asks for Government, including to reduce administration on farmers by simplifying its own paperwork, to help promote the food and farming sector, support skills development and up-to-date portable qualifications, and accelerate investments in technology to underpin automation on farm. Arla has written to the Environment Secretary and the PM to invite them to back its proposals.

Fran Ball, vice president of production at Arla, added: “The challenges in recruiting suitably skilled people into the food supply chain is becoming increasingly harder. With advancements in technology and automation, we should be getting more efficient, but we still need the right people with the right skills if we want to have a workforce that is fit for the future.”

The company has now asked Government to “expedite welcome changes” to the Apprenticeship Levy to enable money to be used more easily for upskilling and training colleagues. It said that reforms to careers advice in schools and to teaching more generally is needed to encourage pupils to consider working in manufacturing, engineering and food.