Images have been circulating on social media for several days: empty shelves where tomatoes, cucumbers and salads are sold in supermarkets. Some chains are rationing vegetables if they are available. And Conservative Agriculture Minister Therese Coffey had to admit that the problem would drag on for at least a few more weeks.
The explanation for the misery: crop failures due to exceptionally cold weather in the growing regions of Spain and Morocco. “We can’t control the weather in Spain,” Minister Coffey told the annual meeting of the NFU farmers’ association. Crop failure would simply be part of the nature of agriculture. Weather is indeed a factor, experts stressed, but there are hardly any signs of it across Europe.
Prolonged vegetable crisis warning
British vegetable and fruit producers are warning of a long crisis amid supply problems for some groceries. Some produce won’t be available until May, according to the Lea Valley Growers Association (LVGA). The main reason is the extremely bad climate in the growing areas. Added to this is the increase in transport costs due to high energy prices.
Conservatives for austerity and turnips
In general, the Conservatives, who promised even better and cheaper food in their Brexit campaign, are idiosyncratically reacting to their otherwise represented positions and are propagating reduced consumption and regionality: Conservative MP Selaine Saxby suggested not so many foods imported how much in January and February eat salad. “Supermarkets are still importing a lot of produce for us and … we really should be eating more seasonally and supporting our own British farmers,” she said.
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symbolic images
Coffey repeated, “It is important that we appreciate the specialties that we have in this country.” A lot of people would be eating beets right now and not necessarily thinking about lettuce, tomatoes and the like. And rationing would only affect some fruits and vegetables anyway.
“Let them eat turnips,” headlined the Daily Mirror, traditionally close to Labour, on Friday, echoing Marie-Antoinette’s bread and cake quote. At the latest, when she declared the British food supply chain to be “extremely resilient”, she might have gone too far.
“Blatant political failure”
Clive Black, an analyst at Shore Capital, wrote in a piece published on Thursday that the shortage of lettuce in supermarkets in Britain is due to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs doing “virtually nothing”, according to The Guardian, to help producers. He saw a “blatant political failure”.
For example, the government excluded vegetable growers from energy subsidies, despite rising electricity and gas prices after the start of the Russian war against Ukraine. The use of greenhouses to grow tomatoes, for example, is no longer worthwhile in winter. “They don’t grow as much here anymore because it’s uneconomical,” Adam Leyland, editor-in-chief of industry publication The Grocer, told the BBC.
Missing Harvest Helpers
Another reason is the lack of seasonal workers who would otherwise travel to harvest from EU countries such as Romania. The reason for this is stricter rules for workers after leaving the EU.
Justin King, former chief executive of supermarket chain Sainsbury’s, also said the country’s problems were self-imposed. “We are exclusively dependent on imports at this time of year. There is a real shortage, but we have created this problem for ourselves.” He also pointed out that British gardeners were let down. “It is a sector that has been significantly affected by Brexit,” he added.
After Brexit as a less attractive market for manufacturers
Britain now has to import around 95% of its winter tomatoes. And once there is a shortage, producers are more likely to deliver into the large EU economic area than the comparatively smaller UK market. In light of rising transport costs, longer distances are also a factor.
While Conservatives claim the shortage is not Brexit-related, some suppliers have told British media that higher costs and red tape caused by Brexit have left the country far behind in imports from the EU and Morocco.
Producers see longer crisis
British fruit and vegetable growers were skeptical about Minister Coffey’s announcement that the crisis would end in two to four weeks. At least from Britain itself, the bottleneck cannot be removed quickly. “Tomatoes, peppers and eggplants won’t be available in bulk until May, so it will take more than a few weeks,” said Lee Stiles of the Lea Valley Growers Association (LVGA), according to the BBC. To make up for the shortage, they should have planted earlier, Stiles said.