As harvest season comes to a close, the farming sector has concerns about access to labour and disappearing EU subsidies post-Brexit.

A countywide study shows growing numbers of firms are expecting to employ fewer people in the next three months.

The quarterly economic survey by Kent Invicta Chamber of Commerce showed nearly one in 10 firms predict staff levels to decrease over the next quarter, up six points.

The findings – the first complete survey for the county since the EU vote – show the number expecting employment to increase fell four points to 27%.

Farmers, who have concerns about access to labour after Brexit, are following the UK’s impending negotiations with Europe very closely.

AC Goatham & Son, based in Hoo, grows more than one in five of the apples sold in the UK from its 18 farms across 2,000 acres in Kent, plus another 20 partner growers supplying apples and pears from another 1,500 to 2,000 acres. Most of these are picked by migrant workers.

Director Ross Goatham said: “The critical part for us is keeping access to that labour. You can’t find the volume of workers in the UK to pick the fruit because people either aren’t interested or not capable of doing the work.

“Without that labour availability we will never feed ourselves as a nation.”

Phil Acock, managing director of bramley apple grower Fourayes, based in Bicknor, near Sittingbourne, said: “The labour thing is a concern to any sector.

“Eastern Europeans are being used in the service sector, hospitality, manufacturing and farming. It is critically important we have access to that labour here.”

The Chamber research shows there remain large concerns about the ability to employ adequate staff, with 80% of those which tried to hire saying they struggled to find suitable applicants.

The number which tried to hire also decreased five points to 59%. The most hard to find employees were in professional and managerial positions, as well as skill manual and technical staff – so why are farmers worried?

Some of the concern comes from what they will be able to pay pickers, as the falling value of the pound means they get less euros for their summer’s work.

“Romanians, Hungarians and Poles are not workshy and are happy to do a day’s work,” said George Jessel, an arable and beef farmer who has 1,200 acres in Brabourne, near Canterbury.

“They often have friends or parents who did it, they work here for four to nine months and save their money or send it back and at the end they go home.

“If you’re paying in sterling and they are converting them to euros it’s not good news. If I was a migrant I would still get better value with the exchange rate where it is than working back in Romania but it is not as good as it was.”

Part of the solution is to reduce reliance on foreign labour. This summer, AC Goatham opened its new £10 million packing facility at its headquarters in Hoo, adding 24 cold storage units where it will store the 170 million apples and 50 million conference pears it will harvest this year. The crop was down on predictions because of the dry summer but its new technology is expected to save it about 20% on labour costs.

“If you’re trying to win votes and you can say you’ll spend £3 billion on farmers or the NHS, you know where the vote will go...” - Ross Goatham, AC Goatham

Yet this kind of investment could be under threat from another major concern for farmers. Many are worried about their future outside of the common agricultural policy, the European system of subsidies for food growers.

While the fruit sector is less affected – AC Goatham said subsidies are equivalent to about 0.3% of turnover – the situation is more drastic for wheat and cereal growers, where EU subsidies make up 30% to 40% of revenues.

“I never understood why so many traditional farmers in arable were voting for Brexit,” said Mr Goatham.

“Do they think the British government will spend that money on the farming class – which isn’t a vote winner – when they could put it towards a hospital or education?

“The problem for farming is the perception you never see a poor farmer, which is because they are often landowners.

“If you’re trying to win votes and you can say you’ll spend £3 billion on farmers or the NHS, you know where the vote will go.”

Arable farmer Mr Jessel added: “We are in for a very rough time. We have got to knuckle down.

“Our subsidy payments will be severely curtailed or disappear and unless we are able to trade into Europe as we have been, then I think it will be jolly hard for us to find new partners in America, Australia and New Zealand.

“It’s vital, whatever the agreement is, that we have proper access to labour and can trade our goods in Europe. That is the fundamental thing.”

The picture is not all of doom and gloom.

Mr Acock said: “I wasn’t a Brexit voter but having said that, one turns one’s attention to opportunities that arise out of the situation.

“We are quite optimistic, particularly surrounding exchange rates. We think there are some opportunities.

“We hope to expand the business through exports and import replacement. Suddenly fruit from abroad is 20% more expensive which will help our growers tremendously.

“But it won’t help them if they don’t get any labour. I’m optimistic about the opportunity.”