DEFRA battling to ease immigration to solve food crisis

Ministers are calling on increase immigration and food prices to solve the food crisis, state recent reports.

According to The Guardian, there is a battle between the home secretary, Suella Braverman, and Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) over immigration.

Farmers and Defra ministers have been lobbying the Home Office to increase the number of temporary visas for agricultural workers, but a senior Defra source said Braverman was “ideologically opposed” to such a move.

Fruit and vegetables have been rotting in the fields, and some farmers have gone out of business, as there are not enough people willing to pick them. Without more visas for food pickers over the next couple of years, there was a risk of supply chain failures, stated the report citing a farmer and founder of the Riverford Organic vegetable company.

BRC has also called for a proper policy on labour, with immigration to match the needs of growers.

Andrew Opie, the organisation’s director of food and sustainability, said: “Retailers will want government to commit to sustainable UK food production – that includes a coherent labour policy, more focus on carbon reduction, and minimising the financial impact of incoming regulations.”

Prime minister Rishi Sunak will be joined by ministers from Defra as well as farmers and industry leaders at the meeting at No 10 on Tuesday (16). Apart from immigration issue, food prices in the UK is also expected to be matter of debate.

The National Farmers Union (NFU), BRC and Morrisons are believed to be among the sector chiefs likely to attend the event.

The NFU will urge the government to set a food self-sufficiency target for the country. Its leader, Minette Batters, will say that at the very minimum the target should be maintained at 60 per cent, estimated to be the current figure.

“The past 18 months have been a stark reminder of how vulnerable the nation’s food security is. It has been a wake-up call for the importance of a secure domestic supply of food, and it is vital that the summit delivers actions, not just words.

“A start would be a serious commitment from government to maintaining Britain’s food production self-sufficiency level at 60 per cent, with a statutory duty to report on domestic food levels and utilise powers under the Agriculture Act to make supply chains fairer,” The Guardian quoted Batters as saying.