Any jobs for teenagers fruit and veg picking out there?

[Fidodidit]

My DC is 16 and I had a look around to see if there are any farms nearby where this would be an option but can’t see anything. I’m not naive about that this entails as I come from a farming background. DC is strong and responsible and a few weeks of this in the summer would be a good option as is still at school so availability for work after that is more limited. Am in Scotland but I haven’t seen anything anywhere where this looks to be any option. I just wondered if this is the case everywhere.

Whereabouts are you in Scotland? I am Scottish and when I was at school, we used to spend a few weeks in the summer working the soft fruit farms in Perthshire, as my cousin lived locally to a few (being able to stay nearby helped, as it tended to be an early start!).

I think a lot of farms use agency workers now, so it might be worth using Google search terms like farm + worker + seasonal + [area of Scotland you're in].

Hope your youngster finds something - as I say, I did this when younger and, although it was hard work, it was a lot of fun! I met some really nice people from around the world (and learned to drive a tractor, although that probably wasn't entirely legal at the time and is probably off-limits now ).

Locally to me, picking is all on the gang master system, so you either go through an agency or know someone. There are more temporary jobs on packing stations but in my area (huge amount of picking) you never see the actual picking jobs

Closest realistic options to us would be Fife or East Lothian I think. I travelled around Nee Zealand after uni for a few months and met people in hostels who were doing casual weeks here and there fruit picking when they needed money - this was a good while ago now, maybe it’s all a more formalised agency system there too. I was listening to the radio yesterday listening to stories about farmers ploughing crops they couldn’t pick back into fields so am surprised I can’t seem to find anything at all.

He could try a kids club like a holiday one, often run at leisure centres, they are always looking for summer holiday staff.