Horticulture

The Government has confirmed furloughed workers will be able to take on additional work during the coronavirus pandemic, in a bid to address the farming sector’s labour shortages.

With changing support structures for farmers and concerns over food standards in post-Brexit trade deals presenting unprecedented challenges for Number 10, has the Government delivered on its promises for UK farming?

This is an extraordinary time to be involved in our food and drink supply chain says Mike Rumbles, MSP for the North East of Scotland.

A major recruitment campaign to encourage British people to provide seasonal labour amid the coronavirus outbreak will ‘open up’ opportunities for a future in agriculture, growers have said.

Growers have launched a large-scale recruitment campaign to encourage British people to provide seasonal labour to harvest crops, due to a severe lack of local workers amid the coronavirus outbreak.

Demands for ‘assurances’ on whether the number of seasonal visas on offer will be dramatically increased have intensified, as concerns over coronavirus grow.

Around a third of all food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted – a fact that I still find hard to comprehend, says Peter Maddox, WRAP director.

New guidance to expand the reach of the UK’s Food Waste Reduction Roadmap has been published, providing growers with advice on tackling food waste.

The Government has appointed Nicholas Saphir as the new chairman of the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) from April 1, 2020 for a three year term.

AHDB and NFU have launched a new survey to identify the skills shortage and possible solutions in the horticulture sector.