Farmers have given a guarded reaction to a major government report on migration and Brexit that says there could be a case for a seasonal workers scheme to help the sector.

The report commissioned by the Home Office says EU workers should be given "no preference" for visas to come to the UK after Brexit.

But the report by the Migration Advisory Committee said there may be a case to introduce a seasonal workers’ scheme to help the agricultural sector.

Chairman of the committee Professor Alan Manning said in a foreword to the 140-page report: “For lower-skilled workers, we do not see the need for a work-related scheme with the possible exception of a seasonal agricultural workers scheme; as that labour market is totally distinct from the labour market for resident workers.”

Many Kent farmers who rely heavily on workers from EU countries have voiced concerns about the uncertainty surrounding recruitment and argued that there should be a scheme for the sector.

About 40% of all soft fruit produced in England is grown in Kent.

Isobel Bretherton, spokesman for the South East branch of the National Farmers' Union said the government needed to recognise that farmers were a special case.

“It is good that the MACC report considers that there is a need for some kind of seasonal workers scheme but while that is encouraging, we would have liked them to go further,” she said.

The government recently announced it was to pilot a scheme in which fruit and vegetable farmers will be able to employ 2,500 migrant workers for seasonal work for up to six months.

“It is good that the MACC report considers that there is a need for some kind of seasonal workers scheme but while that is encouraging, we would have liked them to go further...” - Isobel Bretherton, NFU

Isobel Bretherton said that while welcome, the figure for the trial scheme needed to be seen in the context of the sector needing some 80,000 seasonal workers each year.

“We will of course work with the government to make it a success but we do need a permanent scheme that is similar to the one we used to have,” she said.

The report advocates a Canadian-style system which gives no preferential treatment to workers from the EU.

Kent has already seen a decline in the number of workers from the EU and other countries.

Data on overseas National Insurance numbers show there was a 14% fall in allocations in the county to 12,528 in 2017.