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I, personally, have been involved in the Agricultural Industry for over two decades and have seen some pretty extraordinary changes. The whole sector has had a massive facelift, much of which was in it's early stages well before the Morecombe Bay tragedy.

Since the formation of the GLA however, I have noticed that the 'little man' is slowly being phased out. There are still a few 'dodgy' characters, but blatant flaunting of regulations is, I am pleased to say, a thing of the past. The Agricultural Industry is finally recognising the rights of the worker and putting their welfare and safety above all else.

In my opinion, working 'on the land' or being a 'packhouse worker' holds the same benefits as any white collar job, only climate is an issue. Landworkers are now entitled to 31 days Holiday pay, 36 if they average 6 days per week. They are entitled to sick pay, maternity pay and any other benefits afforded to other Industries.

Growing up in Boston, and working as a young man for local farms, I would quite often mean 'walking' a crop. Basically, going to work for nothing, no guarantees of a days pay and if you didn't like it there was plenty of labour about that would do it. Picking flowers all day for twenty pounds or less in a poor crop was common, hand pulling brussel sprouts where the stalks were laid all over, making it impossible to earn anything like a decent days pay. Cutting cabbage in frosty weather and having to sit for hours waiting for the frost to lift and not on pay. The list is endless. We did moan, but their was no support available so any complaints fell onto deaf ears. Changes definitely had to be made, and fortunately for the next generation of workers, it did come.

Sadly, I believe too many generations have avoided 'landwork' because of such cases and still believe the Industry to be filled with cases of corruption and abuse. This is not so, and I hope to encourage the younger generation back into an Industry that does offer guarantees and does protect it's own and puts a high priority on worker safety.

The ultimate goal of FarmFirst Labour is to forge an aliiance between the Agricultural Industry and local community.