UK agriculture is deeply dependent on migrant workers to provide cheap, continual labour. The duty of care for these workers should be of key interest to a whole range of people from UK producers to overseas recruiters, government to consumers.

And yet in the UK, migrant agricultural workers face tough and restrictive visa conditions, due to the design and implementation of the Seasonal Worker Scheme and the UK’s immigration and labour market enforcement systems at large.

The impact of this has been well evidenced. These include risks of debt bondage, unsafe living and working conditions, underpayment, difficulties in accessing healthcare or redress, as well as difficulties leaving poor or even outright abusive situations.

Using FLEX’s Blueprint for Safer and Fairer Migration, our latest briefing Rooted in justice: Reimagining migration into UK agriculture proposes overhauling the way that the Seasonal Worker Scheme visa is structured, and what essential components must be included in its replacement.