Luke Pollard MP, Labour’s Shadow Environment Secretary, responding to George Eustice’s Land Army announcement at today’s press conference, said:

“Ministers have known for months that we are short of thousands of agricultural workers and there is a genuine risk that crops will rot in the fields without a new national effort.

“Labour has been pushing Ministers to launch proposals for a land army weeks ago.

“If people don’t know about the opportunities available in agriculture, they won’t apply for it. It is now time for a national effort to pick for Britain. “