Vegetable producer G's Fresh says it will aim to employ more young workers ahead of this September's Feeding Britain's Future - Skills for Work Month 2013.
The IGD initiative was promoted at a Skills Summit event in London last week, which was attended by minister of state for employment Mark Hoban, and G's Fresh says the scheme is an excellent opportunity to encourage young workers into the fresh produce industry.
'Last year we offered workshops to 30 young unemployed people from in and around Ely and ended up employing three of them,' said Carol Alecock, HR manager at G's Fresh.
She added: 'Lots of youngsters have misconceptions about our industry so as well as providing basic training in interview and CV techniques, we were able to showcase the wide variety of careers available.”
Beverly Dixon, group HR director at G's Fresh, said the firm 'can't wait to get stuck in' with its plans for Skills Month.
Other fresh produce suppliers signed up the scheme - which gives participants CV and interview advice sessions as well as guided tours around farms and facilities - include potato producers Albert Bartlett and Branston.
Meanwhile, supermarketsMorrisons and Asda were both vocal backers of the scheme at last week's event, withMorrisons announcing the pilot of a new initiative called Our Club, aiming to boost youth employment in Morrisons' stores.
'Even though 40 per cent of our employees are between 16-24, that is not nearly enough and we need to convince young people that a career in the food industry isn't just shelf stacking and that they are able to go from the shop floor to the top floor into positions such as buyers,' explained Nick Rowe, Morrisons' academy and talent director.
Furthermore, employment minister Hoban urged the fresh produce and wholesale industries to up their level of work experience placements. Responding to a question on the difficulty of encouraging Britain's youth into roles within agriculture due to transport issues, the minister responded: 'I accept there is a challenge on getting people to work in the countryside, but there are perhaps ways in which we can use the government's wage incentive to help supply travel costs for farm businesses. This is something I will look into.'
IGD claims that one in seven of all available jobs in the UK is within the food industry.
