Giving the daily COVID-19 briefing, Environment Secretary George Eustice said he expected there would be a need to recruit staff in the UK to harvest crops in the coming weeks. However, he insisted the international food chain was continuing to “work well”.

Since the coronavirus crisis hit the UK, 1.4 million people have claimed Universal Credit.

Furthermore, millions more have been temporarily suspended from work on reduced pay.

Now, Environment Secretary George Eustice has called upon British workers who have been furloughed to take up fruit picking to help with the farming crisis.

He said: “We’re also acutely aware that we’re about to start the British season in fresh produce, in soft fruits and salads.

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“We estimate that probably only about a third of the migrant labour that would normally come to the UK is here, and was probably here before lockdown.

“We are working with industry to identify an approach that will encourage those millions of furloughed workers in some cases to consider taking a second job, helping get the harvest in June.”

He added: “It’s not an issue at the moment since the harvest has barely begun, but we do anticipate that there will be a need to recruit staff for those sectors in the month of June.”

The news comes after farmers expressed fear they will not have the workforce to carry out their work in coming months.

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Previous reports have said crops may be left in the ground to rot and be wasted during the coronavirus pandemic.

They also argue that harvesting crops is skilled work and many Eastern European workers return to the same farms each year.

Up to 80,000 workers help farmers harvest their crops across the UK, the vast majority from Eastern Europe.

Only 10-15 percent of those workers are based in the UK and the rest fly in for the season.

The Feed the Nation campaign has said it is working to find farming jobs for people from mid to late May onwards.

Mr Eustice also said there were cases of trade being disrupted by the pandemic, including goods coming from India.

He said supermarket chains had boosted the number of delivery slots.

Slots have risen from 2.1 million at the start of the outbreak to 2.6 million, with the number set to increase to 2.9 million in the next fortnight.

Supermarkets have faced an increased demand as customers rush to the shops to get what they need for themselves and their loved ones during lockdown.

Although shoppers have been asked to shop as little as possible, there have still been huge queues outside many stores accross the UK.

This has left customers with a long wait before being able to get what they need.

However, a new mobile app has been set up to let customers know just how long they are likely to be waiting at their local shop.

The Supermarket Check In app asks users to share information on how long they have waited to get into a supermarket.

Using the location setting on the phone, shoppers can check how long others have queued for at their local stores.

It also tells Britons how recently the last upload was so they know how reliable the information is likely to be.

However, the effectiveness of the app depends on how many people have used it in your area and is not yet available to use in all locations of the country.

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