Farmers across the Island opened their farms to Minister of Labour David Burch to address their concerns over the six-year work permit limit.

Sen. Burch visited seven farms beginning at 8 a.m. yesterday morning to assess the needs of each farm in terms of employment and was given a tour.

The farms visited were Westover Farm, Wadson's Farm, Roger Pacheco and Sons, Joe G. Amaral and Sons, Windy Bank Farm and Nursery and Property Maintenance.

Speaking to Sen. Burch at the last stop, he explained each farm was unique with its own concerns. The minister said he saw livestock, chickens, vegetables and even a slaughter house just to name a few.

"Every Bermudian should be sent out to visits farms", he said. "It's an education. I learnt a great deal."

"It does make it easier to assess each farm's needs if we know what their needs are. All farms are not the same."

The minister continued: "We've been everywhere. It's been diverse. There are similarities but the vast majority are different. It was very enlightening, very useful. I am very impressed with all of them."

Sen. Burch said Westover Farm in Somerset has Bermuda's only slaughter house where the public can buy fresh meat on Fridays and Saturdays.

The minister said the issue with the six-year work permits is the difficulty of hiring Bermudians in this field.

"The challenge for farmers has been people who are term-limited. We can't get Bermudians into farming. We are looking to establish a programme to get Bermudians into farming", he said.

Sen. Burch added: "Now I have a better understanding of what farmers need I will be looking at people who are coming up for expiry and will work with individual farmers to assess their needs."

Tom Wadson, owner of Wadson's Farm in Southampton appreciated the minister's visit and hopes the six-year term limit will be reviewed. Minister of Environment, Glenn Blakeney also joined the tour of his farm.

He said: "They just wanted to understand the whole thing better. I think they really wanted information, so they had the full tour.

"Col. Burch has been extremely obliging as has the Premier. His actions are speaking louder than words. He's here. It's very refreshing."

Mr. Wadson said the problem with the current legislation is it takes three years to train an employee, then three years later the employee has to leave.

"We work pretty dam hard. It's a highly skilled business", he said. "I employ a staff of nine farm people. We struggle. I have a Bermudian apprentice and I'm trying to get him to agricultural school.

"I've done this for one third of a century. I'd love to keep going forever but it's probably not going to happen. This thing doesn't stop, the pulse doesn't stop. We struggle with it. It's not part of the Bermuda dream right now."

Mr. Wadson added: "It was a good day and I think a lot of good points were made on both sides. These meetings have been ongoing for some time.

"This is just another notch up the ladder. Hopefully it's ongoing and hopefully it will be productive. Our plan is for a win-win for everybody."