Scottish Farmers Warn Of Food Threat From Loss Of Skilled Overseas Labour

Scottish farmers are warning that the UK’s food security is under serious threat following a UK Government decision to remove Skilled Worker code 5111, effectively blocking farms from recruiting skilled overseas workers.

The change, introduced on 22 July 2025, has taken skilled farm roles off the Temporary Shortage List, leaving dairy, pig, poultry and horticultural producers struggling to fill vital jobs. In Dumfries & Galloway alone, more than 25 dairy farms depend on staff from the Philippines and other nations to keep operations running.

While skilled builders remain eligible to help ease the housing shortage, farmers argue that blocking skilled farm workers, as well as those working in food processing, risks creating a food shortage — with higher prices for consumers and greater reliance on imports.

Rory Christie, who runs The Dourie Farming Company near Port William with his brother Gregor, is determined to ensure that this potential catastrophe is avoided. Rory, as current chair of the Milk Suppliers Association, SAOS and the Association of Dairy Producer Organisations is seeking cross sector assistance to bring this labour shortage disaster to the attention of not only policy makers but the consumers who will face price rises if it continues.

“Our family has employed local people for over 70 years, and we will always look to local labour first. However, the reality is that with rural depopulation there are insufficient skilled or indeed unskilled local people to fill the gap. This isn’t about uncontrolled migration — it’s about targeted, skilled people filling essential roles to keep food on our tables. The Government is naïve if it thinks its decision won’t have a huge negative effect on food security and food prices.”

“Farming isn’t bypassing local workers,” added Christie. “We’re filling unavoidable gaps. Without access to overseas skills, the entire food supply chain — from farm to processor to retailer — is at risk.”

Dourie Farming Company runs a 1,200-cow dairy herd and a 200-sow pig unit. Like many farm businesses, they rely on a mix of local and overseas talent to operate seven days a week and provide consistent food supply.

Alongside Rory, other organisations, such as NFU Scotland and the Scottish Association of Meat Wholesalers are calling for an immigration policy that enables skilled, willing workers across agriculture and food processing. In particular, Andy Backhouse of CAS Recruitment has been working tirelessly to address the issue UK wide. Rising salary thresholds and the removal of Skilled Worker code 5111 are already constraining recruitment, despite sustained efforts to recruit and train locally.

The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) itself has previously acknowledged that “domestic supply is insufficient to meet demand in key sectors with sustained vacancy pressures” and that employers have “undertaken significant efforts to recruit locally and upskill, but persistent shortages remain.”

The Sector Is Urging Government To:

1. Reinstate Skilled Worker code 5111 for key farm roles, ensuring skilled farm workers are returned to the shortage list and placed on the immigration salary list. (further details can be found at here.

2. Provide certainty ahead of the upcoming MAC review so businesses can plan, invest and retain staff.

Photo: Shows Benji Cruz, one of the Filipino employees at The Dourie Farming Company with Andy Backhouse of CAS Recruitment who worked with Rory Christie to recruit Benji. They are cutting a cake which show both the Saltire and the Filipino flag and illustrates the essential relationship between farms in SW Scotland and their Filipino employees.