Box 3.

Examples of short term impacts of epidemic-induced shortage of agricultural labour

The current impacts the covid-19 epidemic is having on agricultural labour and on the stability of food production can be illustrated by a few examples:

• Finland: when the lockdown was loosened in Finland (April 2020) and school children were again admitted to schools, many parents of farm families did not allow children to go to school in fear of them being infected and then infecting adult family members or Finnish farm workers – which in this coronavirus situation would have been detrimental since the usually available farm workers from other Baltic countries, such as Estonia, were still prevented from entering Finland.

• South Africa: at the time (mid-May) of writing this piece, the complete lockdown (level 5) that prevented farm workers from entering the tree orchards for harvesting macadamia nuts, avocado, or other high value commodities, has been loosened (to level 4) and now again allows almost normal farm operations.

• Western Europe (France, Germany): in spite of lock down measures including the prevention of crossing national borders and quarantine rules, the health of migrant workers from Eastern Europe and local workers was compromised; e.g. workers from Poland, Romania, etc. were allowed to enter Germany and France in April for the harvesting of high value crops (such as asparagus).

• USA and Mexico: Suspension of USA temporary worker visas and near closure of the Mexico-USA land border (the most transited international border in the world) means that several hundred thousand agricultural workers from Mexico and central America are unable to take up their normal seasonal work in the USA with major consequences for the management, harvest and marketing of numerous high value crops, leading to shortages and high prices, as well as hardship in home communities.