Underinvestment in British horticulture has left the UK over-reliant on fruit & vegetables from countries at risk to climate change, according to a report released by the Food Foundation.
The study, ‘Farming for Five-a-day’, found 90% of the UK’s top 20 fruit & vegetable supply partners were moderately to severely vulnerable to the effects of the shifting climate, with Kenya, Egypt and Peru among the most exposed.
This has left the UK, which imports 80% of its fruit, 47% of its vegetables, and 40% of its food overall, particularly open to price shocks when compared with countries such as France, Germany and Spain.
The Food Foundation warned this could make nutritious foods even more unaffordable for many households.
“It is important government takes action now to prevent this from happening,” said the Food Foundation executive director Anna Taylor. She called on the government to plough investment into the UK’s horticulture sector to grow more fruit & vegetables domestically and increase their consumption.
“Whilst the UK has been experiencing successive heatwaves and drought across much of the country, it is important to acknowledge that most of the countries we import our staple, healthy foods from are in an even more vulnerable position as we see the impacts of climate change ramp up across the globe,” she continued.
The intervention comes just days after the government announced a raft of measures to support farmers dealing with the prolonged hot and dry weather, which has plunged much of the country into drought.
However, the investment would not only make the UK’s supply chain more resilient, it would also present a valuable economic opportunity. The Food Foundation said it could “add billions to the economy, create over 20,000 jobs, and add 3% to farm profits across the country”.
Professor Paul Behrens, British Academy global professor at Oxford Martin School, part of University of Oxford, compared the UK with the Netherlands, “the world’s second-largest agricultural exporter by value”.
“Dutch growers have put around 1,770 hectares under glass for tomatoes alone while the UK’s entire protected vegetable area comes to 866 hectares,” he said. “The Dutch growers became a powerhouse from four decades of consistent, innovation-led policy.”
Behrens added: “This report describes what Britain has lost by never making that choice and, perhaps more importantly, the urgent choices ahead and large opportunities we have by taking action on horticulture.”
British Apples & Pears executive chair Ali Capper said growers in the UK were ambitious to grow their businesses, but “they need the certainty that good government policy can deliver”, including access to the Seasonal Workers Scheme, water for food, agile planning rules and competitively priced energy.
“Growers also need market certainty – long-term agreements and profitable returns,” she added. “Our society deserves to be able to buy a home-grown 5 a day.”
In response, Scottish Greens have called on the Scottish government to urgently increase funding to improve food resilience.
“Our self-sufficiency in fruit & veg has plummeted,” said Scottish Greens rural affairs spokesperson MSP Ariane Burgess. “At the same time, we haven’t moved quickly enough to adapt how we grow food on home soil.”
She added that although Scottish parliament had voted to change how food is farmed and how it is funded in 2024, “the pace of change has been too slow”.
Burgess added: “Until farmers and food producers feel confident that they’ve got the government on their side, they can’t afford to adapt or expand their operations and will continue to be at the mercy of our increasingly unpredictable weather.”
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