Fruit growers fear foreign worker shortage
Hamish Macdonell, Scottish Political Editor
Fruit was left to rot in fields this summer because there were not enough workers to pick itOWEN HUMPHREYS/PA
Almost two thirds of Scotland's fruit and vegetable growers believe they are going to have to downsize their businesses because of the increasing difficulty they have in hiring foreign workers.
A survey of the sector has revealed that every producer in Scotland relies on seasonal workers from outside the UK to harvest produce and most feel that it is becoming harder to attract workers as Brexit approaches.
Almost two thirds said that getting the right foreign labour had been harder in 2017 than in 2016 and three quarters said they believed it would be even more difficult this summer.
The survey, by the Scottish arm of the National Farmers Union, follows reports of fruit rotting on trees and vegetables left unharvested because of the worsening…