By Henry Sandercock2020-12-22T16:53:00+00:00
Defra said it planned to work with the industry to build on this year’s Pick for Britain campaign to encourage UK workers to take up agricultural roles
Growers have welcomed the government’s announcement it will extend the Seasonal Agricultural Workers pilot to 30,000 permits for next year.
The pilot scheme, which was relaunched in 2018 in a bid to ensure growers could hire enough labour to pick and pack the UK’s crops after Brexit, allows migrant workers to enter the UK to work for a six-month period.
The move triples the size of this year’s iteration of the pilot, which saw 10,000 permits granted.
By Henry Sandercock2020-12-22T10:27:00+00:00
Efra’s report calls for immediate action, including the announcement of how many visas will be available to foreign workers in 2021
Food prices could go up unless the government changes its post-Brexit immigration approach, a new report by MPs has warned.
Following its inquiry into labour in the food supply chain, the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee’s report stated getting food businesses to move away from migrant labour would “take time”.
As such, the cross-party group of MPs recommended a more transitional move away from freedom of movement rather than a hard stop from 1 January.
By Henry Sandercock2020-12-21T13:46:00+00:00
Source: Red Tractor
Tacon brings more than three decades of experience to her new role from across the food, retail and farming sectors
Former Groceries Code Adjudicator Christine Tacon has been appointed chair of the Red Tractor Assurance scheme.
Tacon, who stood down from her GCA role in October after more than seven years at the helm, replaces Lucy Neville-Rolfe, whose three-year term ended in November.
Red Tractor said Tacon would bring “proven credentials” from a career spanning “across the supply chains of food and farming”.
“[She] will be an enormous asset in helping Red Tractor fly the flag for our industry and deliver on its core purpose to reassure consumers,” a spokesman said.
December 18, 2020 3:44 pm
The ICMSA National Council has formally confirmed incumbent president Pat McCormack will be staying on for a second three-year term at the helm of the association.
The National Council met to today to formalise McCormack’s continued tenure, after he was nominated unchallenged and uncontested last week for a second term.
McCormack is from Co. Tipperary. He was elected dairy chairperson in December 2009 and was elected deputy president in December 2011. He was elected president in December 2016, where he succeeded John Comer in the role.
Meanwhile, the ICMSA National Council also confirmed that incumbent deputy president Lorcan McCabe was also confirmed for another three-year stint in that role.
Tacon named new chairman of Red Tractor scheme >More in
Former groceries code adjudicator Christine Tacon has been appointed as the new head of Red Tractor.
Ms Tacon has been named as the chairman of Assured Food Standards (ASF), the company that operates the Red Tractor Assurance scheme.
She will take up the role on 1 January 2021, replacing Dame Lucy Neville-Rolfe, whose term ended last month.
The announcement came days after
Farmers Weekly exclusively revealed that, as a Conservative peer, she voted against amendments in the Agriculture Bill tabled to protect British farmers from imports produced to standards not permitted in the UK. Her actions sparked a huge backlash among farmers.