There have been suc­cesses and fail­ures in com­batting COVID-19 world­wide. News of the emer­gence of vac­cines and the start of their wide­spread use give a ray of hope, but the battle is not over yet. Ag­ri­cul­ture has a spe­cial role to play in this, as food should be main­tained in all cir­cum­stances all over the world. There can be no ques­tion of a tem­por­ary shut­down in this sec­tor. This study points out that the pan­demic has caused la­bour short­ages in sea­sonal work in both EU and US ag­ri­cul­ture, which not only high­lights, but also forces the ac­cel­er­a­tion of in­nov­a­tion-driven ef­fi­ciency gains and gen­er­a­tional change. In­nov­a­tion in this case is aimed at re­du­cing the need for human re­sources, and gen­er­a­tional change is aimed at in­volving young women and men in ag­ri­cul­tural pro­duc­tion. The pre­ser­va­tion and con­tinu­ation of ag­ri­cul­tural pro­duc­tion is the basis for main­tain­ing ag­ri­cul­tural trade and the sup­ply chain. The study sheds light on the short- and long-term ef­fects and changes that the COVID-19 has caused in these areas. Suc­cess re­quires not only the de­vel­op­ment of the quant­it­at­ive, but also the pro­fes­sional, qual­it­at­ive pre­par­a­tion of the work­force, for which the au­thors re­com­mend the wide ap­plic­a­tion of tal­ent man­age­ment in ag­ri­cul­ture and point out the most im­port­ant ele­ments of con­scious pre­par­a­tion.

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