South Holland has the highest number of people working in the food chain in the county – with a total of 21,028.
A report to go before Lincolnshire County Council next week highlights the importance of agriculture and its role as an industry.
The statistics show that, including food service and retail, South Holland has almost 10,000 more employees in the sector than any other district.
A raft of challenges, including labour shortages, are highlighted in the report which will go before the council’s executive.
“The challenges on labour supply have been borne out in feedback from Lincolnshire based agri-food companies and in autumn 2022 producers with a high seasonal labour requirement, such as vegetable harvesting, reported planning to reduce production in 2023,” the report says.
Some 25 per cent of county council tenants use seasonal labour, and there has been difficulty in recruiting.
“If the labour shortage is not resolved swiftly, shortages threaten to shrink the sector permanently with a chain reaction of wage rises and price increases reducing competitiveness, leading to food production being exported abroad,” says the report.
The total farmed area in Lincolnshire stands at 490,000 hectares, or 5.4 per cent of the national total.
More of the land is becoming owned outright rather than rented, which accounts for 152,641 hectares.
The statistics also show almost a quarter of all vegetables grown nationally in the open come from 21,712 hectares in Lincolnshire.
Members of the county council are being urged to back a total of eight recommendations, including to work with MPs to “put pressure” on Defra and the Home Office to change entry requirements for foreign workers to offer flexible arrangements while taking steps to ensure the development of suitable accommodation.
The report calls for a multi-year deal around seasonal workers should be adopted so employers can plan ahead.
The document also says the county council should consider becoming a member of The Institute for Agriculture and Horticulture.
“The aim of this report is to consider how the county council could develop its leadership and support Lincolnshire’s agricultural sector to maximise opportunity and be thriving, resilient and diverse businesses,” it says.
The county has had around £75m investment in agri-skills infrastructure in the last six years.
