Farmers feel 'abandoned' by Government as worker shortages worsen before Christmas

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A farmer from Collumpton in Devon has told ITV News the Government has "abandoned" rural communities over the supply chain issues in the food industry.

Shortages of farm workers and delivery drivers have hit companies across the West Country as Covid restrictions continue to ease. 

Some have blamed the shortages on the lack of European workers available after Brexit. 

Piper's Farm, in Collumpton, employs around 40 people but worker shortages are hurting business.

Abby Allen has worked at Piper's Farm for more than 10 years. She said: "I feel the rural community is being abandoned by Government currently.

"There's been a huge amount of challenges this year. I think in the time that I have worked at Piper's I've never seen so many challenges facing this industry.

"It speaks to the resilience of the people that are part of this farming and food production community, that we've been able to stabilise some of these threats that have faced small scale businesses."

For R T Keedwell Group, a transport and haulier company based in Highbridge in Somerset, stabilising business means spending more.

Owners have told ITV News driver shortages have meant it can be tough to get food deliveries out on time and in order to to attract new drivers wages have almost doubled.

Fuel prices have rocketed in recent weeks. Credit: ITV News

Stuart Keedwell, Chair at RT Keedwell, said drivers wages and fuel prices are only some of the reasons the industry is struggling.

"There's new vehicles, equipment has gone up quite substantially and it is also hard to get hold of because there is delays in the supply chain everywhere," he said.

Environment Secretary George Eustice said in the House of Commons on Tuesday 16 November the Government has acted quickly to deal with any issues.

He said: "The important thing to recognise is that we have acted expeditiously to deal with problems as they arose.

"In particular, when we could see that there would potentially be a shortfall in labour to do the seasonal work on processing turkeys for Christmas, we acted quickly to set up a visa scheme for that."

Ministers have said they will not take risks with the country's food supply but those in the industry will be bracing itself for a difficult winter as it struggles to keep up with demand.