Tomato shortages

[dutchman]

Apples and pears could be next UK food shortage, farmers warn



Apples and pears could be the next food shortage in the UK, after it emerged that British growers are planting just a third of the number of trees needed to maintain orchards, saying their returns from selling to supermarkets are unsustainable.

Ali Capper, head of the British Apples & Pears trade association which represents about 80% of the industry in the UK, said 1m new trees would have to be planted each year to maintain the UK’s 5,500 hectares (13,590 acres) of production.

This year farmers had planned to order just 480,000 apple and pear trees but that has been slashed to 330,000. Capper said the key reason for the lack of investment was “supermarket returns that are unsustainable”.

She said fruit growers’ costs had increased by about 23% as the cost of picking, energy, haulage and packaging had risen but that was being met by a less than 1% increase in returns. “The majority of growers are losing money.”

Some are planning to quit the industry and others have effectively mothballed their orchards or are grubbing them up as the returns dwindle. “This is a very serious situation,” said Capper. “The future of apple and pear growing in the UK is seriously in doubt.”

British field crops including leeks, carrots and kale have also been affected by frosts before Christmas that reduced harvests this year as farmers struggle with rising costs and volatile weather partly caused by climate change.

Tim Casey, the chairman of the Leek Growers’ Association, said that British leeks might be difficult to find for St David’s Day this year: “Leek farmers are facing their most difficult season ever due to the challenging weather conditions,” he said.

“Our members are seeing yields down by between 15% and 30%. We are predicting that the supply of homegrown leeks will be exhausted by April, with no British leeks available in the shops during May and June, with consumers having to rely on imported crops.”

Clive Baxter, whose family has been growing apples for 80 years in Kent, said he planned to hand back 24 hectares (60 acres) of apples, pears, cherries and plums on leasehold land to his landlord next year – meaning the trees were likely to be grubbed up – and was leaving another 3.6 hectares (nine acres) of his own orchards to go fallow.

“We haven’t seen quite such dramatic change to the fruit industry in this country since the 1987 hurricane when a huge amount of fruit came out of the ground because of the damage from the storm,” he said.

Nearby farmer Richard Budd at Stevens Farm in Hawkhurst told the BBC’s South East news programme that he is taking out 20 hectares (50 acres) of orchards.

Another farmer told the British Growers Association survey of British Apples & Pears growers: “We have decided to quit apple growing in two years’ time after 40 years of growing fruit.”

Capper said if fruit trees disappeared it would not only put food security at risk but affect biodiversity which had been fostered in many orchards.

[dutchman]

WOW! Just WOW!

[dutchman]

Asda and Morrisons lift buying limits on some fresh fruit and salad items



Supermarkets have begun to remove some of their purchase limits on fresh fruit and vegetables, introduced after widespread salad shortages and gaps on shelves.

Asda has lifted limits on customers buying cucumbers, salad bags, broccoli, cauliflower and raspberries, after the retailer said supply of these items had improved. However, customers are still limited to buying a maximum of three packets of tomatoes and peppers each, but Asda said the situation was easing, and it expected to return to normal levels within a couple of weeks.

Morrisons has also removed the cap on purchases of cucumbers, but is still limiting shoppers to a maximum of two packets of tomatoes, lettuce and peppers per customer.

Asda, along with Tesco, Morrisons, Aldi and Lidl, introduced rationing of various fruit and vegetable lines in late February, as a result of shortages caused by unusually cold weather in Europe and north Africa, which affected some crop harvests.

The challenges accessing sufficient supply of these items, the majority of which are imported to the UK during the winter, was also exacerbated by British growers cutting back on production as the cost of energy required to heat and light the glasshouses soared.

Shoppers began to complain on social media of low stocks of items such as cucumbers, peppers and tomatoes around 20 February after importers struggled to obtain their usual levels of fresh produce. At the time, suppliers and retailers predicted the shortages would last for a couple of weeks until the harvest, delayed in some cases by the poor weather, could begin in places such as Spain and Morocco.

Some of Britain’s largest supermarket chains introduced buying limits on items such as tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers, in an attempt to avoid empty shelves and to allow as many customers as possible to buy what they required.

Amid the shortages, British growers and the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) said they had been warning for some time that food producers were facing soaring costs of energy, fertiliser and other necessities, and in some cases were not being paid enough to cover the cost of production.

The NFU’s deputy president, Tom Bradshaw, said last month that a reliance on imports had left the UK particularly exposed to “shock weather events”.

[dutchman]

Morrisons has also removed the cap on purchases of cucumbers, but is still limiting shoppers to a maximum of two packets of tomatoes

I haven't seen any fresh tomatoes for sale at Morrisons?

(Or eggs for that matter)

[dutchman]

This will affect British consumers like you wouldn't believe. Not only will you be paying much more for fresh food but the quality will also noticeably decline. For example: expect to be offered sour, green tomatoes instead of sweet, ripe ones.

[dutchman]

There were absolutely none on the shelves last time I visited Morrisons and they can hardly claim to be 'out of season'!

Hardly any lettuce either.

[rebbonk]

The supermarkets are gouging us. It's easy for them to create a false shortage in order to push prices up. Tell me how many supermarkets have returned lower profits to their shareholders over recent years!