'Difficult' to weed lavender farm since Brexit

A Surrey lavender farmer says it has been "a bit touch and go" to weed crops in time for peak visitor season since new visa rules were introduced after Brexit.

Lorna Maye, owner of Mayfield Lavender Farm, says finding workers has been tricky since the United Kingdom left the European Union and sponsoring visas is expensive.

People from the EU, except Irish citizens, have needed visas to work in the UK since the post-Brexit immigration system came into force in January 2021, and EU immigration has decreased since freedom of movement ended.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has been contacted for comment.

Ms Maye says her farm in Banstead, which is open to visitors, grows its lavender organically, so relies on workers to manually weed its crops.

"We weed 140,000 plants by hand so that it's beautifully manicured, so that people do want to visit a lavender farm," the farmer told BBC Radio Surrey.

"Since Brexit, getting workers to come in has been quite difficult because of the visas that have been required now to bring people in."

Ms Maye added that sponsoring visas was "hugely expensive" and there "aren't as many workers that want to come over".

She said: "It's always a bit touch and go whether we manage to get everything weeded in time for the season starting."

Mayfield Lavender Farm opened in Banstead in 2006 and has since seen a surge in international visitors.

Ms Maye said the site started off with local visitors who heard about the attraction through word of mouth, but "as social media started to increase, we saw lots of people who wanted to come and take photographs of themselves in the lavender".

She added: "From 2011 it got really busy, then we put a telephone box in the middle of our lavender farm because we were getting lots of international tourism."

The farm took on a second site in Epsom in 2011, which is now home to a shop, cafe, and a new "secret lavender garden".

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