Publication - Research and analysis

Seasonal migrant workers in Scottish agriculture: research report

Published: 11 April 2023
From: Director-General Net Zero
Directorate: Environment and Forestry Directorate
Part of: Farming and rural
ISBN: 9781805257035

Outlines the main findings of research into seasonal migrant workers in Scottish agriculture, including: their number and demographics; the experiences of employers and seasonal migrant workers; and the long-term viability of this sector.

Supporting documents

Appendix I: Bibliography

Association of Labour Providers, ALP (2019) ALP Food Supply Chain Labour Survey Results. ALP 2019.

Barbulescu, R., Vargas-Silva, C. 2020. Seasonal harvest workers during Covid-19. UK in a Changing Europe Blog, June 2020.

Barbulescu, R., Vargas-Silva, C., Robertson, B. 2021. Without freedom of movement who will pick the fruit? UK in a Changing Europe Blog, April 2021.

Bedford, R, Bedford, C, Wall, J, Young, M 2017. Managed Temporary Labour Migration of Pacific Islanders to Australia and New Zealand in the Early Twenty-first Century. Australian Geographer 48(1): 37-57.

Consterdine, E., Samuk, E. 2015. Closing the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme: A Triple Loss. Sussex Centre for Migration Research. Sussex: University of Sussex, Sussex Centre for Migration Research.

Consterdine, E., Samuk, S. 2018. Temporary Migration Programmes: the Cause or Antidote of Migrant Worker Exploitation in UK Agriculture. Journal of International Migration and Integration 19: 1005–1020.

de Lima P. 2012. Boundary Crossings: Migration, Belonging/'Un-belonging' in Rural Scotland. In: Hedberg C., do Carmo R. (eds) Translocal Ruralism. GeoJournal Library 103. Springer, Dordrecht.

de Lima, P., Wright, S. 2009. Welcoming Migrants? Migrant Labour in Rural Scotland. Social Policy and Society 8(3): 391 – 404.

Defra and Home Office 2021. Seasonal Workers Pilot request for information. Home Office, GOV.UK. (updated 7 October 2021).

Devlin, S. 2016. Agricultural labour in the UK – Food Policy Briefings. Produced by the New Economics Foundation for The food Research Collaboration, 2016.

Findlay, A., Geddes. A., McCollum, D. 2010. International Migration and Recession. Scottish Geographical Journal 126(4): 299-320.

Findlay, A., McCollum, D. 2013. Recruitment and employment regimes: Migrant labour channels in the UK's rural agribusiness sector, from accession to recession. Journal of Rural Studies 30(1): 10-19.

FLEX and FMF (Focus on Labour Exploitation and Fife Migrants Forum) 2021. Assessment of the risks of human trafficking for forced labour on the UK Seasonal Workers Pilot. Focus on Labour Exploitation, London.

Flynn, M., Kay, R. 2017. Migrants' experiences of material and emotional security in rural Scotland: Implications for longer-term settlement. Journal of Rural Studies 52: 56-65.

Fudge, J., Herzfeld Olsson, P. 2014. The EU Seasonal Workers Directive: When Immigration Controls Meet Labour Rights, European Journal of Migration and Law 16(4): 439-466.

Geddes, A., Scott, S. 2010. UK Food Businesses' Reliance on Low-Wages Migrant Labour: A Case of Choice or Constraint? In: M. Ruhs, B. Anderson (Eds.), Who Needs Migrant Workers? Oxford University Press. pp. 193-218.

Gibson, J., McKenzie, D. 2014. The Development Impact of a Best Practice Seasonal Worker Policy. The Review of Economics and Statistics 96(2): 229–243.

Göçer, Ş., Mazıcıoğlu, M.M., Özlem, R., Ulutabanca, D. Ünalan, Karaduman, M., Şahin Tarhan, K. 2020. Assessment of healthy lifestyle behaviours in traveling seasonal agricultural workers, Public Health 180, 149-153.

House of Commons – Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee 2017. Feeding the nation: labour constraints. Seventh Report of Session 2016-17.

Jentsch, B, de Lima, P., MacDonald. B. 2007. Migrant workers in rural Scotland: 'going to the middle of nowhere.' International Journal on Multicultural Societies 9 (1): 35-53.

Jentsch, B. 2017. Migrant integration in rural and urban areas of New Settlement Countries: Thematic Introduction. International Journal on Multicultural Societies 9(1): 1-12.

Kyambi, S, Kay, R, Boswell, C, Taggart, K and Porteous, H (2018) Choices Ahead: Approaches to lower skilled labour migration after Brexit. Project Report, Centre on Constitutional Change. Edinburgh, University of Edinburgh.

Lawrence, F. 2015. The exploitation of migrants has become our way of life. The Guardian, 17 August 2015.

MacKenzie, R., Forde, C. 2009. The rhetoric of the `good worker' versus the realities of employers' use and the experiences of migrant workers, Work, Employment and Society 23(1) 142-159.

Malik, P. 2021. Human trafficking risk as seasonal workers feel like 'slaves'. The Courier, 16 March 2021.

Maughan, C., Anderson, C., Kneafsey, M. 2020. A Five-Point Framework for Reading for Social Justice: A Case Study of Food Policy Discourse in the Context of Brexit Britain. Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development 9(3): 281–300.

McAreavey, R. 2012. Resistance or resilience? Tracking the pathway of recent arrivals to a 'new' rural destination. Sociologica Ruralis 52 (4) 488-507.

McAreavey, R 2017. New Immigration Destinations: Migrating to Rural and Peripheral Areas. London and New York: Routledge

Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) 2013. Migrant Seasonal Workers. MAC 2013.

Moyce, S.C., Schenker, M. 2018. Migrant Workers and Their Occupational Health and Safety. Annual Review of Public Health 39(1): 351-365.

NFU (National Farmers Union) 2020. Urgent action needed to implement seasonal workers' scheme. NFU online 28 October 2020.

NFUS (National Farmers Union Scotland) 2021. Seasonal migrant workers. NFUS 2021.

NFUS (National Farmers Union Scotland) 2021. Seasonal Worker Pilot: National Farmers Union Scotland's case for review. NFUS 2021.

Nye, C., Lobley, M. 2021. Farm labour in the UK. Accessing the workforce the industry needs. Technical Report, May 2021. University of Exeter.

Petkevica, I. 2021. Then and now: Issues in Scottish agriculture through the lens of a former seasonal worker. Blog, Focus on Labour Exploitation, 2021.

Ruhs, M., Anderson, B. 2010. Who Needs Migrant Workers? Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 1-14.

Rye, J.F., Andrzejewska, J. 2010. The structural disempowerment of Eastern European migrant farm workers in Norwegian agriculture. Journal of Rural Studies 26: 41-51.

Scott, S. 2015. Making the case for temporary migrant worker programmes: evidence from the UK's rural guest-worker ('SAWS') scheme, Journal of Rural Studies 40: 1-11.

Thomson, S., et al. 2018a. Farm Workers in Scottish Agriculture: Case Studies in the International Seasonal Migrant Labour Market. SEFARI

Thomson, S. 2018b. The Fruits of Their Labour: Seasonal Farm Workers in Scottish Agriculture. SEFARI

Thomson, S. 2018c. Stopping the rot? The UK seasonal agricultural workers pilot scheme. Blog. SPICe, 2018.

Thomson, S., McMorran, R. 2019. Seasonal Migrant Workers in Scottish Agriculture: an update. SEFARI.

Zubairi, S.S., Diffley, M., McIntyre, S., Shortall, S., McAreavey, R. 2020. Non-agricultural seasonal and temporary migrant workers in urban and rural Scotland. Research report for Scottish Government.