AS a largely agricultural county, Herefordshire faces some very specific challenges as the coronavirus situation escalates.

A number of the UK's leading suppliers of asparagus and soft fruits are a major part of the local economy, and the British berry industry has for many years relied on workers from mainland Europe to provide seasonal labour to pick crops due to a severe lack of availability of local workers.

Last year 98 per cent of harvest staff were from outside the UK, and concern is growing about the industry being able to secure enough workers to help harvest vital crops and get fresh fruit and vegetables to the public.

Nationally, the berry industry is mounting a large-scale recruitment campaign to encourage people who are in the UK and looking for work because of the current economic impact of the coronavirus to come and work on farms.

Nick Marston, chairman of British Summer Fruits, says: "We also need the Government to help too.

"We need the Government to classify food supply chain workers as essential workers.

"This would mean that our supply chain including harvest and packhouse staff on our farms, would be protected.

"Without these critical workers we will not be able to get our fresh fruit and vegetables from the farm to the shops."

Locally, B H Savidge and Son, a family farm growing raspberries and blueberries based outside Ross-on-Wye, is appealing online to students or those who work in hospitality and who are "keen to do something to keep (themselves) busy during a summer of uncertainty" to apply to fill the gap in the industry.

Full training and on-site accommodation, if required, will be provided. To learn more, email administration@bhsavidge.co.uk.

Mark Savidge reports that the response to the post has been phenomenal, with more than 250 applications and 2,500 shares on social media.

"We don't start picking for another six weeks, and it's very early days. But it's quite scary when you have a harvest that can't be picked."

The response to the appeal is, he says, very reassuring, "because we have the market for the fruit."

A similar appeal has been put out by other local farmers, including EC Drummond and Cobrey Farms.

At AJ and CI Snell in Harewood end, one of the UK's largest fresh and frozen fruit suppliers, Christine Snell explains that, with the start of the harvest still almost two months away, it is extremely difficult to know what the situation will be then, but at the moment "it's business as usual, because we haven't reached our critical point."

She adds, however, that AJ and CI Snell have received 'a good level of interest' in working for the company during harvest.

  • HOPS, former operators of the Harvesting Opportunity Permit Scheme (Great Britain) and the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme, is looking for a UK workforce to help farms harvest crops. To apply for a position on one of HOPS farms in the UK, complete the form at www.hopslaboursolutions.com/seasonal-work/