Millions of furloughed workers urged to help bring the harvest in

Farmers have warned that fruit and veg could rot in the fields.

Workers in the UK who have been put on furlough have been urged to take a second job picking fruit and vegetables.

UK farms will harvest many of their crops in June, with a risk that they could spoil if the usual migrant workers are unable to enter the country due to coronavirus restrictions.

Environment Secretary George Eustice told today’s government press briefing: ‘We are acutely aware that we are about to start the British season in fresh produce in soft fruits and salads.

‘We estimate that probably only about the third of the migrant labour that would normally come to the UK is here – and was probably here before lockdown.

‘We are working with industry to identify an approach that will encourage those millions of furloughed workers in some cases to consider taking a second job helping get the harvest in in June.

‘It’s not an issue at the moment since the harvest has barely begun. But we do anticipate that there will be a need to help recruit staff for those sectors in the month of June.’

Mr Eustice said that the international food supply chain ‘continues to work well, although there are isolated cases of trading being disrupted, particularly for instance some goods coming from India’.

He said that most of our trade with near neighbours in Europe is continuing to flow normally.

However, the government is concerned about the potential for disruption around harvest time if restrictions continue and Brits do not answer the call for pickers.

The farming industry has warned that thousands of tonnes of fruit and veg will rot in UK fields if vacancies for seasonal workers are not filled.

Leaders say a drive to get unemployed and furloughed staff onto the fields has had an inadequate response, threatening shortages of locally sourced food.

However, Brits who have applied for the jobs claim they are being ignored or rejected in favour of eastern European workers.

Around 50,000 Britons have applied for the estimated 90,000 positions available – but only 6,000 people have been offered an interview.

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