HEREFORDSHIRE farmers have said that they rely on a foreign workforce, including labourers from Asia, because local people are "put off" fruit picking jobs.

Anthony Snell, who runs Windmill Hill Fruits with his wife Christine Snell, told the Daily Mail: "We can't get local people. It isn't easy work, we start picking at 5am and it is only six months of the year. A lot of people are put off."

According to the Mail, the Snells employ 250 seasonal workers for six months of the year to pick soft fruits at their farm near Ross-on-Wye.

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All of these seasonal workers come on six-month visas from countries including Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Kyrgyztan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, with the majority being Bulgarian and none being British.

They are paid £11.40 an hour to pick strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and redcurrants which are then sold in supermarkets.

Mrs Snell previously said to the BBC: "We tried very hard in the pandemic to recruit locally. Had I relied on them to pick the crops, the crops would have just remained in the field."