Fruit farmers are facing a lean time this summer as their vital workforce is slashed.

One Kent strawberry farmer says he will be resorting to hope and prayer to get more workers on his fields for the picking season.

Alistair Brook, owner of Langdon Manor Farm in Faversham, says he still needs to find nearly a third of his picking team.

And he fears a shortage if the weather turns warmer and there are not enough strawberry pickers.

He said: “It is worrying. We normally have people booked in from early spring. Now we just hope and pray that more people will come forward. It is not a good way to run a business."

Mr Brook blames the Government for cutting the number of work visas for seasonal migrant workers from Poland, Latvia and Lithuania, who are now preferring to stay in their own countries.

The fall in the pound's value against the Euro has also not helped.

Mr Brook, who has been in business for 12 years and provides produce for Tesco, added: “The pool of workers is not as big as it used to be. I have been trying to find other workers but it has been very difficult when you approach the labour providers and they're short as well.

“I’m hoping people will come forward after the Polish universities break up in a couple of weeks.”

The National Farmers Union, which campaigns on behalf of farmers' and growers’ rights, has been urging the Government to recognise that seasonal migrant workers are important to the soft fruit industry in Kent - without these workers, it argues, the long-term viability of the sector could be permanently damaged.

NFU South East Regional Horticulture Adviser Sandra Nichols said: “The NFU wants to see the number of Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme permits increased to help meet growers’ needs as there is a real problem facing agriculture and horticulture due to a lack of seasonal labour.

“These workers come into the country for a limited period and then return home and, as a result, are not a drain on the country’s services.”