Record numbers of people in the UK are looking for farming jobs, the BBC reported citing figures released by job search engines.

Totaljobs says it has seen 50,000 searches for farming jobs in the past week alone. Steve Warnham of Totaljobs was quoted as saying workers “who have been temporarily displaced due to Covid-19 are now looking for roles in other sectors”.

The UK faces a shortage of fruit and vegetable pickers because of travel restrictions on overseas workers.

Totaljobs said it had seen an 83% increase in applications for agricultural roles in the past month.

It added that searches for terms such as “fruit picker” or “farm worker” had surged by 338% and 107% respectively.

Data shared with the BBC by other job search websites suggests a similar trend.

Mark Bridgeman, president of the Country Land and Business Association said the surge was “wonderful news and shows a tremendous ‘can do’ attitude at these difficult times”.

While there are still many jobs to be filled, he said there is a "massive surplus" of UK labor at the moment, with millions furloughed from their normal jobs, rising unemployment, and students also available for work.

"The challenge is matching that excess supply that is throughout the country with the demand, both in seasonal work, and also in food processing."

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