This article needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(September 2021)
Pick for Britain was a 2020 campaign launched by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs of the Government of the United Kingdom and British food industry to encourage UK citizens to help with the harvesting of fruit and vegetable crops during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the years preceding 2020 UK farmers had increasingly relied on as many as 50,000 to 60,000 migrant workers to harvest crops, but because of a labour shortage initially caused by withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union and precipitated by measures introduced to control the pandemic the sourcing of workers from overseas became extremely difficult.[1] The campaign was launched to recruit fruit and vegetable pickers from the UK and aimed at workers furloughed from their regular jobs.[2][3] A website, pickforbritain.org, was also launched, together with an advertising campaign supported by the broadcaster ITV and supermarket retailer Waitrose. Although some people initially came forward to offer their help, it was estimated that a "food army" of 40,000 people would be needed in order to prevent unharvested crops from being spoiled.[4]
The campaign was ultimately scrapped in 2021, with an estimate of only 5-11% of Britons taking up the 70,000 harvesting roles in 2020.[5] Environment Secretary George Eustice was criticised by Members of Parliament and farmers unions for overstating the impact of the programme.[6] Shortages of goods in supermarkets would eventually take hold in mid-2021.[1]
^ ab"'Devastating': Crops left to rot in England as Brexit begins to bite". euronews. 14 July 2021. Retrieved 20 October 2023.
^"Pick for Britain: How can I get involved in a fruit and vegetable harvest?". The Independent. 19 May 2020. Archived from the original on 26 May 2022.
^Russell, Herbie (30 May 2020). "5am starts, poverty wages and no running water—the grim reality of "picking for Britain"".
^Morris, Steven; Butler, Sarah (20 May 2020). "Farms still need up to 40,000 UK workers to harvest fruit and veg". The Guardian – via www.theguardian.com.
^Henry Sandercock (16 April 2021). "Pick for Britain scheme for UK-based farm workers scrapped". The Grocer. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
^Kevin White (2 October 2020). "Eustice accused of overstating Pick for Britain scheme impact". The Grocer. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
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