The horticulture sector needs about 80,000 seasonal workers to hand-pick fruit and vegetable crops. About 95 per cent of these typically come from abroad, the vast majority from EU countries

Farmers say that they will be forced to let their crops rot unless the government takes urgent action to give work visas to fruit and vegetable pickers from outside Europe, to make up for a shortfall of European Union workers who are deserting the nation’s fields in the wake of Brexit.

The visas are part of a long wishlist of demands being submitted to ministers by companies in all sectors to help them to maintain their investments in the UK after Britain leaves the EU.

Chief among their concerns is a shortage of skilled labour. The horticulture sector alone needs about 80,000 seasonal workers to hand-pick fruit and vegetable crops. About 95 per cent of these typically come from abroad, the vast majority from EU