04/04/22 Ukrainian workers. Leaving farming.
Seasonal workers on a farm in Shropshire are sending aid back home to Ukraine. Why farmers find it so difficult to retire.
Farmers with Ukranian workers have been helping staff whose families are caught up in the war there. Ukraine is famous for its rich agricultural farmland and many seasonal workers come to UK farms. Last year two-thirds of seasonal worker visa-holders were Ukrainian. A salad-growing company in Shropshire has 37 Ukrainian workers, working side by side with Russian colleagues in the fields. They have collected two trucks of aid and sent them to refugees who've fled the fighting.
The government's due to open its ‘lump sum exit scheme’ soon. Farmers who apply could receive up to a hundred thousand pounds if they stop farming. The idea is to create more opportunities for new farmers How easy is it to give up farming? We’ll be talking about that all week. Professor Matt Lobley, co-director of the ‘Centre for Rural Policy Research’ at the University of Exeter says farmers are reluctant to leave the land for emotional and financial reasons.
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