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Warnings that Cornwall could be left without a farm industry have led County Hall to ask the government for help.

It has been predicted that Cornwall will lose millions if EU immigration is reduced after Brexit.

Following the referendum, Cornish businesses have had difficulties recruiting for jobs usually taken by EU immigrants, a new study has revealed.

It led to some crops being unpicked or unharvested, some care homes being dramatically short-staffed and restaurants reducing the number of covers they offer or downgrading their menus.

Around 17,000 EU nationals are currently living in Cornwall and, according to the research led by Cornwall Council and the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), those of working age are occupying jobs that locals cannot or will not fill.

Facts from the report:

EU immigrants in Cornwall mostly live in urban areas, especially Bodmin, St Austell and Redruth/Camborne

The majority of them are staying in Cornwall for between two and five years

EU migrants registered at Cornish GP surgeries make up 0.38% of the population

They are mostly employed in medium and large businesses

They are mostly employed in retail, health and care, hotels and the tourism industry, agriculture and good sector and manufacturing industry

A majority of them are recruited they same way as local staff, with businesses employing "the best candidates that applied"

More than half of all recruitment of overseas labour was because businesses either could not recruit staff within the UK

(Image: altamira83)

EU immigrants have proved to be "critically important" for large hotel chains, care homes, the agriculture and food industry and marine engineering, Cornwall Council's research states.

"The workforce in the tourism sector in Cornwall has been growing (as it has across the UK) and there is a clear feeling that the EU workforce is an important part of maintaining quality and labour supply to the sector," the study reads.

"One of the major skills shortages that EU migrants are presently filling is chefs, particularly higher-level roles.

"Businesses stated that there was a major shortage in skilled chefs that had forced some businesses to reduce the number of covers they offer and others to downgrade their menus."

But the industry that is suffering the most from the Brexit announcements has been the agriculture and food sector.

(Image: MYCHELE DANIAU/AFP/Getty Images)

Cornwall relies much more on this industry than the rest of the UK and uses many EU immigrants to fill jobs that locals will not do.

The report states: "After the Brexit vote the concerns of farmers and horticulturalists across the UK about being able to harvest crops has been well documented.

"Several farms in Cornwall, large and small, report this year it had been much harder to recruit EU labour than previous years and has led to reduced productivity and some of this years’ crop going unharvested.

"All agricultural businesses reported virtually no demand for agricultural jobs from a British workforce and the demand for jobs in the food processing sector was also relatively low from UK workers."

The investigation explained that the same issue was also relevant for the fish processing sector.

It said: "[It] is also heavily reliant on EU labour. FalFish, which is one of the largest fish processors, uses high numbers of EU migrant labour, estimated to be around 70% of their workforce in Redruth."

"Migrant workers are filling positions in areas of the economy that businesses state they cannot recruit into from the indigenous population, particularly where jobs are deemed unattractive or seasonal. Migrant workers are also supporting businesses to facilitate their growth in a tight labour market and within Cornwall’s rural labour market.

"They are also providing key skill where there are genuine shortages of skilled UK workers."

However, according to the study, such a phenomenon was made possible thanks to freedom of movement of labour which means it could be endangered by Brexit.

County Hall is now calling on the government to make sure Cornwall gets the EU workforce it needs after the UK leaves the EU.

"Recent research commissioned by Cornwall Council and the Local Enterprise Partnership found changes to migration laws after Brexit could lead to multi-million pound losses to the Cornish economy if the horticultural industry can’t access the skills and workforce it needs," a spokesperson wrote.

"The research found that following the Brexit vote, recruitment immediately became more difficult for horticultural farms, harvests could not be lifted in full and staffing requirements were already dwindling to 65% of need.

(Image: NIKLAS HALLE'N/AFP/Getty Images)

"Around 17,000 EU nationals are estimated to be living and working in Cornwall - approximately 3% of the total population. There is no evidence that migrant labour is displacing the local workforce."

David Simmons of Riviera Produce, one of the biggest producers in Cornwall predicted dire impacts: “If we put strict limits on Eastern European migrant labour or devise alternative immigration policies that limit so-called ‘low-skilled’ labour, the Cornish horticultural industry is finished.”

The solution would then for the government to take a place-based approach to future migration.

(Image: Getty Images)

Council leader Adam Paynter said: “Many of our major industries such as horticulture could be severely impacted and are already feeling the pinch with some of our crops rotting in the fields following a sharp fall in the number of EU workers.

“We are working with local partners to improve skills and employment for local people, but there will always be an important place in the Cornish economy for seasonal and migrant workers, particularly in the horticultural industry.

"We are calling on the government to take a place-based approach to future migration, to make sure that the Cornish economy has access to skills which may not be highly valued in London but which are vital to a major rural economy like ours.”