As the summer season rolls in, UK farms and agricultural contractors are once again preparing for their busiest and most demanding months. From drilling and spraying to silaging, combining, and baling, every job has a weather window, and every delay costs money.
But for many, the biggest bottleneck isn’t machinery or weather. It’s people.
In a recent Farmers Weekly feature, Stuart Wilson of Allan WJ Wilson contracting in Ross-shire described the challenges of running a successful operation in the Scottish Highlands. While his business has adapted well to the rhythms of modern farming, offering everything from cultivation to snow clearing, staffing remains a consistent thorn in the side.
“Every year we run it close,” Wilson says, referencing the difficulty in filling tractor and combine seats for harvest. “Though we try and offer the best rates for agriculture, we’re competing with more lucrative industries and nine-to-fivers.”
It’s a sentiment echoed across the UK. The pressure to source seasonal labour at speed, combined with a shrinking rural workforce, has made it harder than ever for farms and agri-businesses to maintain reliable, skilled teams. But the solution may not lie in the next job ad or recruitment agency promising a quick fix. It lies in rethinking the structure of the workforce itself.
The Real Cost of Seasonal Staffing
The traditional seasonal staffing model - bringing in temporary workers for harvest, lambing, spraying, or peak maintenance - once worked well. It was underpinned by access to European workers, a strong pool of local agricultural labour, and fewer compliance hurdles.
Today, that system is creaking under pressure.
1. Labour Supply is Drying Up
Brexit has significantly reduced the number of overseas workers available for UK farming jobs. Meanwhile, rural areas are seeing young people move into cities, leaving an ageing workforce behind. As Wilson noted, even in established contracting firms with good reputations, recruitment is running dangerously close to the line.
“There’s very little young blood joining the industry,” he explains. “Especially in this area, where we have a low population to start with.”
2. Training and Safety Risks
Temporary staff require onboarding. When jobs involve high-value machinery like Claas combines or £15k balers (as mentioned in the article), the risk of user error rises significantly. Without enough time to train, businesses run the risk of equipment damage, operational delays, or safety incidents—all of which impact profitability.
3. High Turnover, Low Continuity
Seasonal staff rarely return year after year. That means farms are constantly resetting—retraining new workers, re-explaining procedures, and losing the operational continuity that experienced, long-term employees provide.
“We expect high work standards and decisions on the go,” said Wilson. “It’s hard enough to get any time off the tractor seat as it is.”
The Permanent Recruitment Solution
This is where Agricultural Recruitment Specialists (AgriRS) steps in. While we don’t supply seasonal workers, we do provide something far more sustainable: permanent staffing solutions for agri-businesses ready to reduce their reliance on short-term labour.
The benefits of hiring permanent staff go far beyond filling roles:
✔ Reliability Across Seasons
By having core staff in place year-round, you build a team that understands your land, your equipment, your priorities, and your pace. When summer hits, you're not starting from scratch—you’re building on a foundation.
✔ Reduced Machinery Downtime
Skilled permanent employees are more likely to maintain and operate machinery with care. In the Farmers Weekly article, Wilson described losing a week of baling due to a machinery fault. Investing in operators who treat the kit like their own can prevent these expensive mistakes.
✔ Operational Efficiency
Wilson’s business made a strategic change in 2025 by streamlining drills—from three to two—without reducing sowing capacity. Why? Because they had better machines and the right people to operate them. When you have skilled, permanent operators, you can often do more with less.
✔ Adaptability and Resilience
As Wilson’s team transitions from verge mowing to harvest, then back to hedgecutting, it’s clear that flexibility is a key business advantage. Permanent hires, cross-trained in multiple areas, allow for this kind of agile resourcing.
What We’re Seeing Across the Sector
At Agricultural Recruitment Specialists, we work with farms, agri-tech firms, food producers, and rural businesses across the UK. What we’re seeing isn’t just a need to hire - it’s a need to build back better.
Here’s what’s trending:
Farmers are shifting toward core staffing models with supplemental contractor support
Automation and machinery use is increasing, requiring more technical operators and engineers
Administrative and compliance roles (e.g. for grants, audits, carbon tracking) are becoming essential
Succession planning is a growing concern for landowners and estate managers looking to future-proof their operations
The AgriRS Approach: Building Long-Term Value
We don’t just match CVs to job specs. We build agricultural teams that last.
Our recruitment model is tailored to each business’s location, sector, and scale. Whether you need a Farm Manager to oversee 1,000 acres, a Livestock Specialist to optimise herd health, or a Technical Engineer to manage a precision farming setup, we deliver candidates who are qualified, motivated, and culturally aligned.
We also work with returning candidates - those who’ve left the industry but are looking to re-enter in a more stable, permanent capacity. Many of these individuals value rural life, want to work hands-on with land and livestock, and are actively seeking long-term roles that offer purpose and progression.
It’s Time to Futureproof Your Workforce
Stuart Wilson’s story paints a familiar picture—successful operation, skilled team, tight margins, and constant pressure to find the right people when it matters most. But it also shows that adaptation is possible. His team has evolved services, diversified into winter maintenance, upgraded kit, and explored contract farming—all with the goal of sustainability.
Permanent staffing is a crucial piece of that puzzle.
At Agricultural Recruitment Specialists, we help make that shift possible. No more last-minute hiring scrambles. No more reliance on luck or loopholes. Just reliable, motivated professionals helping your business grow.
Ready to take a longer-term view?
Speak to our team today about your current and future staffing needs - and let us help you build the workforce your farm deserves.
