A Government moratorium has cut the size of the Island’s landscaping workforce by almost a third, a company owner believes. And he has warned: “It will probably be more.”In August, Government imposed a moratorium on work permit applications and renewals for landscapers, along with cleaners and masons.Companies banded together to form the Bermuda Landscaping Association (BLA) after Economy Minister Kim Wilson announced the ban would be extended through to May.The Royal Gazette interviewed three company owners for this article, all of whom declined to be named.One said: “For the 34 companies in the group, I’m aware of 96 work permits that are before immigration. With roughly 320 employees, you’re talking about close to 30 percent of those jobs being lost.”She predicted a sharp increase in landscaping costs as a result.“If we lose so many of our guys, it’s back to supply and demand. Costs are going to rise.”Landscapers are relying on tomorrow’s Government job fair to bring skilled Bermudian applicants, but they expressed varying degrees of hope that an industry dominated by foreign workers can recruit sufficient locals to keep afloat.One business owner summed up the problem: “We train them, and they end up going to work for Government [where] there’s better money and less hours, or they just don’t hang in long enough and learn the trade.”It will be difficult for him to stay in business without qualified staff, he added.“If you take away all the key staff, we can’t operate. Too many people don’t know what to do, and being able to push a lawnmower doesn’t make them a landscaper.”One possible compromise, he said, would be “if Government could give some training to people and then send them on to us”.Another possibility would be getting permission to retain skilled foreign workers long enough to train new recruits.“I’d be able to take on four or five new people, one on each truck, if I could keep a couple of my key staff on each truck to train them,” he said.He estimated that of a staff of about 22, he needed eight to ten trained staff workers to keep operating.Another landscaper told The Royal Gazette: “Hopefully with the jobs fair we’ll be able to get a good idea how many out there are experienced and willing. I’m confident that we can find a few.”The person admitted it was “very tough to entice people into the industry”.“If we’re able to keep our most experienced foremen they could train Bermudians. If we can’t find enough Bermudians who are experienced and willing, I would hope the Minister would take a second look at the moratorium. We can’t function with a staff of trainees.”The BLA plans to stay organised, to attract Bermudian workers and organise a system for training them.One operator said: “Our big problem is so far we’ve had Bermudians applying who don’t want to stay, or don’t like the work, or don’t have the expertise. It’s not that we don’t have anybody to hire. They just don’t stick around.”