Travel restrictions on overseas workers has seen a record number of people apply for farming jobs, according to job site TotalJobs.
As a result of the current Covid-19 crisis, the UK has faced a shortage of fruit and vegetable pickers.
However, Totaljobs says it has seen 50,000 searches for farming jobs in the past week as well as an 83% increase in applications for agricultural roles in the past month.
Searches for roles such as “fruit picker” had increased by 338% and “farm worker” also saw a 107% rise in searches.
“The bottom line is that a shortage in labour may well lead to crops not being picked in time and therefore wasted as well as a potential under-supply for the UK and export market.”
As reported by the BBC, Indeed.co.uk also said that there had been interest in fruit picker jobs, with an increase of more than 6,000% in searches for these roles between the 18th March and the 1st April.
Speaking last month, managing director of Regency Purchasing Group, Alex Demetriou, warned of a potential labour shortage for UK growers during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The potential impact on the availability of migrant workers is by far the most significant challenge facing our UK growers this year.
“The bottom line is that a shortage in labour may well lead to crops not being picked in time and therefore wasted as well as a potential under-supply for the UK and export market. This is likely to leave a large gap in the labour required – and no real solution to fill it.”
