Now camped on an unauthorised site, and technically homeless, Jamie is working as a Big Issue seller to keep his head above water. Like all homeless people, he faces the dilemma of trying to get permanent work without an address and a bank account, and trying to get an address without a job.

However, he isn’t one to talk a fellow worker down: “I say good luck to people who can earn money by going abroad – I’d do the same. I don’t begrudge the workers – it’s the farmers. There’s no sense of loyalty. It’s a shame – it’s put so many people out of work. I know ladies who used to work on the bulbs for 30–40 years, local people; they’ve been put out of work.”

A study on gypsies and travellers commissioned by Cornwall Council and the district councils noted that: “Many respondents felt that traditional patterns of work were threatened due to competition for jobs from economic migrants. Accessing employment was harder for gypsies and travellers who do not have authorised accommodation – whether transit or residential.”

The Cornwall Gypsy and Traveller Accommodation Assessment also said: “Half of all respondents had travelled in the past year. Employment was given as the main reason for travelling, followed by cultural traditions and visiting friends or family. The vast majority stayed on an unauthorised site when travelling, and the lack of transit sites was given as the main reason for stopping travelling.”

Lack of transit sites restricts mobility and, hence, the opportunity to access traditional work on the farms.

The study reported that Cornwall has the highest proportion of unauthorised sites in the country, and concluded that 147 more residential pitches are needed across the Duchy, as well as a network of 45 transit sites for temporary stopovers.

Farmer Jim Hosking has seen patterns of labour change over the years at his 2,000-acre family-run business, Fentongollan Farm. Here he produces flowers, bulbs and more than 100 million vegetable seedlings each year.

He said: “It’s a big change. In the ’70s and ’80s we relied on housewives – in those days very few were employed in work, so they used to come in their droves when we needed them. They dropped their children at school and worked till it was time to pick their children up again. We relied on them; they were excellent and did the job really well, cutting flowers and picking vegetables.