ASPARAGUS farmers in the Vale of Evesham are snapping up Polish pickers who are not allowed to work in Germany.

A German demand that one in five of that country's asparagus pickers should be native rather than Eastern European immigrants has create a labour shortage as migrant workers turn to the more open British market.

Victor Aveling, chairman of the Asparagus Growing Association, said British growers would benefit from the rule.

He said: "Without Eastern European labour, most of the horticulture in this country would come to a stop. You cannot recruit local people to do it.

"In the early 80s, there was a pool of willing, hard-working people in this country who were out of work and willing to do seasonal labour.

"Now there is so much full-time employment, people who want to work can find a job all year round. Seasonal labour means recruiting people who are out of work and the majority of people out of work in the UK don't want the hard work involved in horticulture.

"The Eastern Europeans are all on piece-work and they want to earn the money and work jolly hard to do so."

Chris Simms, of Red Star Growers in Birlingham, near Pershore, employs about 100 Eastern European students to pick asparagus during the season, which starts in June.

He said: "There is no perception that Poles or other eastern Europeans are better workers than English, but we get hardly any applications from English people. If we do, we try to accommodate them.

"We are very satisfied with the workers we get through the Concordia government employment agency."