“We need to get the people who work on farms and who work in factories, making iconic brands, to talk about why this is an exciting career,” Jones told FoodManufacture.co.uk in this exclusive video interview.
“When they do that, it is very compelling,” said Jones, who previously worked with the Provision Trade Federation and the Food and Drink Federation (FDF).
“Those jobs [in farming and food and drink manufacturing] are the equal of those in aerospace and automotive. That is what we have got to do if we are going to get the best talent in future.”
‘The equal of those in aerospace and automotive’
In a wide-ranging interview, Jones highlighted the horticultural sector’s heavy dependence on migrant labour and the need for the food and farming industry to find a unified voice.
The vegetable sector alone needed up to 95,000 non-UK nationals to harvest, pack and process vegetable products, he said.
Read more about Jones’s views on the need for the food and farming industry to speak with one voice during the Brexit negotiations in the Big Interview feature, first published in the February edition of Food Manufacture.
Meanwhile, for the latest jobs in food and drink manufacturing, visit FoodManJobs.
- This video was filmed and edited by Matt Atherton.