Europe’s new jobless urged to pick fruit amid huge farm labour shortage
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From Italy to Britain, travel bans to curb the spread of COVID-19 have left farms across western Europe short of hundreds of thousands of migrant workers, raising fears that crops could end up rotting in the fields.
France and Germany have already launched job-matching schemes, appealing for people who have lost work during the pandemic to plug the gap. Britain is expected to announce a similar “Pick for Britain” campaign shortly.
Spain, a major fruit and vegetable exporter, has meanwhile said it will allow illegal immigrants to take farm jobs alongside the unemployed – an idea also being aired in Italy amid fears the mafia could exploit the crisis.
The labour shortage is an immediate headache for farmers in Germany where April marks Spargelzeit – asparagus time – a crop that is not only prized as a national delicacy, but also celebrated for heralding in the spring.
Germany is the world’s fourth biggest asparagus producer, growing about 130,000 tonnes a year.
In Italy, farmers’ association Coldiretti estimates labour shortages have left more than a quarter of produce at risk, including wine and oil.
Italy normally depends on 370,000 labourers from countries including Romania, Morocco, India, Albania and Senegal.
“These are perishable products that must be picked at the right time, otherwise they rot in the field. These operations cannot be postponed,” Coldiretti’s president Ettore Prandini said.
With the first fruit harvests imminent, Coldiretti has launched an online platform to match job-seekers to local farms.
In France, agriculture minister Didier Guillaume has called on out-of-work hotel staff, waiters, hairdressers and others to join “the great army of French agriculture” to replace 200,000 seasonal workers.
An online platform called “Des bras pour ton assiette” (Arms for your plate) has already received more than 210,000 applications for jobs including harvesting, packing and deliveries.
Even pensioners have expressed an interest, but they cannot leave their homes because of their heightened vulnerability to the virus.
In Britain, which needs about 70,000 seasonal workers, several agriculture organisations have launched job-matching schemes which will continue in tandem with the expected national initiative.
The government has said furloughed workers – who continue to receive 80% of their salary – can also take agricultural jobs.
Farmers said they had already been inundated with requests, but the situation needed careful managing.
They fear that when the lockdown is eased people will return to their old jobs, leaving them in the lurch and harvests spoiling in the fields. If this happens it could lead to produce shortages in the shops.
