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Daffodils have been left to rot in farmers’ fields in Cornwall from a lack of migrant workers due to Brexit.

Rows of the yellow flowers, among beds of white hybrids, stand wilting in one such 16-acre field overlooking Tresillian Rover near Truro.

The field is part of Fentongollan Farm, which is run by brothers Jeremy and James Hosking.

They said this growing season - from January to April - has seen the worst shortage of workers from countries such as Romania and Bulgaria.

James, 58, said: “The devaluation of the pound means when the pickers’ transfer and convert wages into the local currency they earn less than they used to and less than they can in other European countries.

"Historically we have got migrant workers from Lithuania and Latvia but their economies are a lot stronger so this season we have got them from mostly Bulgaria and Romania.

(Image: Tom Last)

"We are a relatively small operation but need about 60 pickers. This year we topped out at around 40 and in general there are a lot less pickers around in Cornwall than normal.

"The crop has a very short window to it. If there is not enough pickers anything that is not harvested is lost and stays in the ground.”

(Image: Tom Last)

James claimed locals did not want to work in the fields, saying he only had ten applications this year. Of those, eight were offered jobs but only two turned up and they did not last their first week.

(Image: Tom Last)

He added: “The government has announced they will allow 2,500 but for edible crops only. Even if we were allowed to use all of them to pick daffodils that would allow for only a quarter of the Cornish crop. So what does everyone else do and what does the rest of the country do?

"The government has forgotten how much we need the unskilled migrant sector which is vital for most economies. People can cope without flowers but I can guarantee they will notice when there is no vegetables on sale in their supermarkets."

(Image: Tom Last)

The lack of manpower has been described as a devastating blow for the daffodil picking industry which generates around £45m a year for the UK economy. Britain is by far the world’s largest producer of daffodils, with about 75 per cent grown in Cornwall.