What does it mean to work in UK farming today? The image of farming was revitalised during the Covid-19 pandemic as essential for ensuring supply of a diverse array of food on our plates, from fresh fruit and vegetables to sugar. Yet the people involved in farming tend to be less diverse and many farms are facing a shortage in workers. After all, 84% of farm holders in England are men (DEFRA, 2016) and it is estimated that 98% of workers in seasonal agriculture are migrants (NFU, 2018). In this podcast, Dr Bethany Robertson will talk about where these patterns stem from and what the future of the sector looks like.
R. Barbulescu, C. Vargas-Silva, B. Robertson, 'Without freedom of a movement who will pick the fruit? UK in a Changing Europe,' (2021).
B. Bathurst, Field Work: What Land Does to People & What People Do to Land (Profile Books, 2021).
T. Lang, Feeding Britain: Our Food Problems and How to Fix Them (Pelican Books, 2021).
B. Robertson, 'Why Women are Taking Centre Field in Farming,' The Conversation (2017).