Dairy farmers have said UK labour won’t make up for losses of overseas workers that are expected as a result of Brexit.

Results of a YouGov survey commissioned by the Dairy farmers’ association RABDF suggest that only 4% of UK adults would consider all key aspects of working on dairy farms personally acceptable, casting doubt on whether future restrictions on accessing labour from the EU can be solved by recruiting from the domestic workforce, as has been suggested by some on the right as a solution to restrictions on immigration as Britain leaves the EU.
 
The survey of over 2,000 people carried out in early June, found that among those who do consider at least one of the features of dairy farming – such as working in a rural location – acceptable, interest appears to diminish when they find out the role is in dairy farming. Of semi-skilled workers, less than a fifth said they would consider working in dairy, and even fewer adults with skills and qualifications said they were willing, despite competitive rates of pay.

RABDF chair Mike King admitted that the results show dairy farming has an image problem, but also said the domestic workforce cannot currently be relied upon to plug labour shortages.
 
The farming industry as a whole has highlighted its reliance on overseas workers, and the need for access to labour after Brexit, and the horticulture and dairy sectors have been highlighted as being most reliant on workers from the rest of the EU. On Monday, Mr King said, “EU workers currently fill a large number of roles in dairy farming, which are varied and largely permanent. But post-Brexit, we could see access to that labour disappear.
 
“The survey indicates many UK workers simply don’t like the thought of some of the features of dairy farming, like the need for flexible hours or working outside. The least popular task is working with machinery – only 17% of all UK adults would consider it acceptable if they were applying for a job now. Just 27% will consider a job involving animals, and working in a rural location is deemed acceptable by only 36%.
 
“This, coupled with the tail-off in interest when people realise the role is in dairy farming, shows we need to take a long term look at the image we portray but also secure access to the labour we need in the short term.”
 
He continued, “Even for dairy farms which calve seasonally rather than year-round, labour requirements are relatively static with a big emphasis on skilled or qualified permanent labour to cope with the shift towards precision-based management of animals, forage and land,” he says.
 
“This is why the results of this survey sound warning bells for dairy farming, especially when considering them in light of UK dairy farmers’ growing reliance on staff from the EU.”
 
Repeated polls of dairy farmers by RABDF from 2014-16 showed that there was growing difficulty in recruiting staff even before last year’s Brexit vote. Since then, farm groups including the NFU have highlighted that farmers - who as an industry overwhelmingly voted for Brexit - are finding it more difficult to attract sufficient numbers of workers.