Coronavirus: Furloughed workers should pick fruit and vegetables to save harvest, says minister

Government to ask public to ‘consider taking a second job helping to get the harvest in’

Millions of furloughed workers will be urged to pick fruit and vegetables this summer amid fears crops will be left to rot in the fields.

Environment secretary George Eustice said plans were being put in place to fill the shortage of migrant labour due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The scheme would see large numbers of people – including those who are effectively being paid by the government not to work – sent to help out with the harvest in June.

“We’re acutely aware that we’re about to start the British season in fresh produce, in soft fruits and salads,” Mr Eustice told the daily briefing.

“We estimate that probably only about a 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 which would encourage millions of furloughed workers, in some cases, to consider taking a second job helping to 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.”

Furloughed staff are able to take ‘second jobs’ during the shutdown as long as they have the permission of their main employer and are able to return to their normal job at any time.

The announcement follows reports that the government was preparing a “Pick for Britain” campaign to make sure the harvest was not wasted.

According to the Country Land and Business Association (CLA), travel restrictions and illness could leave a shortage of up to 80,000 agricultural workers this year. Some UK farmers even resorted to chartering flights to bring labourers from Romania.

However, Mr Eustice sought to reassure the public that the international food chain was still “working well” despite the lockdown restrictions.

He also said supermarket staffing levels have been rising in recent weeks as self-isolating employees returned to work.

Less than 10 per cent of staff in the food industry were absent at the end of last week, compared to 20 per cent three weeks ago.

Additional reporting by agencies