Cornwall flower growers fear that 80 percent of their crops will die in the spring due to a shortage of 2,500 EU workers.

Around 80 per cent of Britain’s daffodils are grown in Cornwall, generating around £100million for the UK economy.

January sees the start of harvesting and the daffodil industry needs approximately 2,500 workers to pick more than a billion stems.  

Many growers are concerned that 75% of next year’s crop won’t be harvested due to labour shortages. 

As they try to find workers, smaller growers may stop producing daffodils.  

Most of the labor supply comes from east Europe, in particular from Romania and Bulgaria.

A number of growers believe that 75 per cent of their crop will not be picked next year as a result of labour shortages

Many growers fear that 75% of next year’s crop won’t be picked due to labour shortages

Smaller growers will likely stop growing daffodils altogether as they struggle to bring workers to their fields

Because they are unable to hire workers for their fields, small growers might stop producing daffodils.

Following Brexit, UK Government plans for immigration have seen the UK stop issuing visas to low-skilled migrants working in Europe. It has also drastically decreased the numbers of immigrants coming to the UK. 

A plan to recruit seasonal workers from different parts of the globe does not include flower picking in its scope.  

A lot of local growers tried to find workers, with little success. 

‘If we can’t recruit more pickers, there won’t be a daffodil industry left. “The situation is very dire,” James Hosking from Fentongollan Farm in Cornwall near Truro told the Guardian. 

‘If only 50% is picked this spring, the following spring you’re looking at 25% of that. And that means you’re out of business.

‘There’ll be no alternative but to stop growing daffodils. That’s the end of an industry the UK leads the world in.’  

Around 80 per cent of Britain's daffodils are grown in Cornwall, generating around £100million for the UK economy

Around 80 per cent of Britain’s daffodils are grown in Cornwall, generating around £100million for the UK economy

January sees the start of harvesting and the daffodil industry needs approximately 2,500 workers to pick more than a billion stems

Jan is the beginning of harvesting. To pick over a million stems, approximately 2,500 workers are needed by the daffodil business.

Varfell Farms, Penzance in Cornwall is the world’s biggest daffodil producer. They produce 500 million stems per year, and require 700 pickers.

Although the crops can be worth many thousands of pounds, Covid and Brexit have meant that there are only around 400 flower pickers.

Workers at Varfell Farms earn £890 a week on average and their top pickers can earn up to £1800 a week.

Alex Newey, owner of the company, stated earlier this year that the farm must let the daffodils die in the fields.

He stated, “We don’t have enough pickers for them to harvest them.”

“We are losing hundreds of thousands of Pounds.”

Much of the labour supply comes from eastern Europe - in recent years mostly from Romania and Bulgaria

A large portion of the supply of labour comes from eastern Europe, mainly from Romania and Bulgaria in recent years.

Newey said that there are significant recruiting drives for workers from the local area to help harvest crops.

“It would be unrealistic to believe that Covid, along with the high unemployment rate than normal, will make it possible for those people to come and work in that field.

I would recommend that you respect a harvester of daffodils because it is hard work.

You’re outside in the cold, it’s Cornwall. There it blows very hard.

“It is wet, and you are bent over to pick daffodils for 3 months.

“Frankly the people we had to bring in and do this job, the locals, might last for a few days or weeks, but certainly not for two or three more months.”

The government has promised to extend the visa scheme to include non-edible crops such as daffodils.

The government is yet to make any announcements, despite the fact that there are only two weeks before harvest season.  

MailOnline reached out to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs for comments. 

Jersey potato farmers send workers to the Philippines from the Philippines in order to prevent crops from rotting and fill the gap created by the arrival of Polish and Romanian migrants following Brexit

In order to fill the UK’s gap caused by Brexit, Filipino workers were recruited to work in Jersey on farms.

After the EU referendum, growers feared Jersey Royal potatoes might be abandoned to rot on the farms by farm workers who were largely from Poland.

According to farmers, the gap has been filled by Filipino workers on Channel Island who were keeping the agriculture industry alive.

Filipino workers at work on Manor Farm, which specialises in growing Jersey Potatoes

Filipino workers at work on Manor Farm, which specialises in growing Jersey Potatoes

Peter Le Maistre is the president of Jersey Farmers Union. He explained that Brexit has led to more workers from other countries being hired.

He explained that since the Brexit vote of 2016, the economy in Poland has significantly improved compared to 2001, when the first Jerseyans arrived to work.

“So it was becoming more and harder to find workers in Eastern Europe. A few years ago, we began to search for another source of work.

M. Le Maistre stated that an agent in Scotland or Northern Ireland had told him about Filipino workers working through the agency.