Labor Shortage Hits French Farms as 300,000 Seasonal Workers Needed

France has nearly 300,000 applications for agricultural seasonal jobs to fill, reports L’Opinion. These are volunteers who can replace the some 100,000 foreign workers who come each year for seasonal harvests from Poland, Spain, Portugal, Romania or even Morocco, Tunisia or Latin America, the same source specifies. They are blocked at home this year due to border closures, one of the measures taken to curb the spread of covid-19.

The labor shortage is being felt more acutely. "It was tense in the spring, but it’s worse from now on, with summer fruits, then apples and the grape harvest," explains Jean-Baptiste Vervy, founder of the Wizifarm platform, specialized in agricultural employment. "The French, who were available at the beginning of the lockdown, have largely returned to work. There may be 45,000 left out of the 300,000 who applied... Yet in July, in a normal year, France recruits 150,000 seasonal workers."

The figures from the MSA and the FNSEA indicate that the country will have to recruit 180,000 in August, and as many in September. According to estimates from the Ministry of Agriculture, the number of missing employees (immigrant labor) is around 80,000 to 100,000 per month.