Farming leaders welcomed the extension of a seasonal workers scheme for fruit and vegetable pickers - but warned more action is urgently needed to fill livestock sector jobs.
The Home Office and Defra said the visa scheme will be extended until the end of 2024.
It will make 30,000 six-month visas available for horticultural workers in 2022, "with the potential to increase by 10,000 if necessary".
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This was welcomed by the National Farmers' Union (NFU), which estimates demand could be as high as 55,000 people in the coming year due to falling numbers of EU nationals and challenges recruiting domestic workers.
However, Defra said visas will begin to taper down after 2023 as part of the government's post-Brexit goal of prioritising domestic workers and reducing "reliance on foreign labour".
NFU vice president Tom Bradshaw said: “This [extension] is positive news for the thousands of fruit, veg and flower growers that rely on essential seasonal workers to help pick, pack and grade our iconic fresh produce.
"These growers will be extremely relieved to have clarity over the future of the scheme for the next three years.
“With labour shortages so rife across the entire food supply chain, we will continue to monitor the situation closely."
Those shortages have also been keenly felt in East Anglia's pig and poultry sectors.
Mark Gorton, a director of Traditional Norfolk Poultry, based in Shropham near Attleborough, said a separate initiative offering 5,500 temporary visas for poultry workers had helped the firm satisfy its peak Christmas demand - but now a longer-term solution is needed.
"The seasonal workers visas enabled us to get our Christmas turkeys done - but now we are in a dire situation again," he said.
"Everyone has gone home and we are back to massive factory shortages. We need the government to listen to us, or there will be shortages on the shelves.
"I don't want to belittle horticulture, because this is a huge financial thing for them, but a strawberry left on a plant is not a welfare issue - however if you leave livestock in a shed and you cannot process them there are massive animal welfare implications.
"So it is critical that action is taken fast."
While acknowledging farming's reliance on foreign workers, Defra said "more must be done to attract UK workers through offering training, career options, wage increases and to invest in increased automation technology".
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