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25/09/20 - Seasonal workers, agricultural T-Levels, the Sustainable Farming Incentive and curlews
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鈥檛 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鈥檚 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.
Presented by Charlotte Smith
Produced for 91热爆 Audio in Bristol by Heather Simons
Last on
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- Fri 25 Sep 2020 05:4591热爆 Radio 4
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Farming Today
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside