The government has announced 45,000 new visas for seasonal workers for horticultural businesses next year as the sector struggles with labour shortages.
Defra said the Seasonal Agricultural Worker visa expansion would allow businesses to recruit foreign workers to come to the UK for up to six months.
This is an uplift of 15,000 compared to what was available to farming businesses at the start of this year.
Defra said this number would be kept under review with the potential to increase by a further 10,000 if necessary.
The first 4,000 visas will be made available to operators next week, the department added.
Labour shortages are affecting countries around the world, but the UK food and farming sector - heavily reliant on migrant labour - warns that it is suffering as a consequence of Brexit and the pandemic.
Defra said that today's announcement would provide more certainty for farmers, as well as to help tackle the labour shortages and rising input costs impacting the farming industry.
Defra's farming minister, Mark Spencer said the government had now "listened to the UK’s horticulture sector".
"While it is right that we offer long term support to increase the use of domestic labour, we also need to support businesses on the back of what has been a challenging year for food producers.
"Today’s announcement will provide our growers with the labour they need to bring in the harvest and continue to put their produce on our tables."
More widely, the government is currently encouraging the farming industry to make employment more attractive to UK domestic workers.
To help with these efforts, Defra is working with the industry and DWP to raise awareness of career opportunities among UK workers.
The government is also working to boost automation in the sector, with £12.5m recently announced to boost the development of automation and robotic technologies on farms.
Defra will also respond shortly to the recommendations of a review of automation in horticulture which was published earlier this year.
