Future of fruit and veg sector looks bleak

Bridgwater and West Somerset MP Ian Liddell-Grainger tells Defra Secretary Thérèse Coffey the Government needs to take notice of warnings issued this week about the ‘bleak’ future of the fruit and veg sector

DEAR Thérèse, It gives me no pleasure, these days, to drive regularly past a farm which was until recently covered in hundreds of fruit trees but where, this year, nothing more interesting than maize is growing.

The trees were felled as a direct response to a collapsing market for what they produced. Indeed all the way along my journey from home to the nearest station I pass any number of locations where literally thousands of fruit trees once stood.

Many were felled in response to the spectacular backfire of the EU’s scheme to cut production of the Golden Delicious apples that were flooding the market and driving down prices: under-pressure British growers were among those seizing grubbing-up grants with both hands.

But further damage has been inflicted on the horticulture sector since as a result of a continuing flow of cheaper imports and cost increases that have simply not been absorbable.

So no wonder that the Lords have issued their warning about fruit and veg division having a ‘bleak’ future unless Government steps in to drive a expansion of the area currently under production – and I would certainly go along with the Soil Association’s suggestion that that should entail doubling it.

We are in the ludicrous situation of having (still) one of the best climates for producing fruit on bush and tree and having the magnificent soils and growers’ expertise available to supply huge tonnages of vegetables, yet do nothing to ensure that producers can achieve sustainable prices.

At what point will it eventually dawn on Government that simply relying on more and more imports while allowing our own horticulture sector to atrophy is dangerous folly?

That while rising temperatures threaten to restrict food production in countries further south so the risk grows that one day those supplies could be abruptly cut off? Do ministers not understand that you cannot turn agricultural production on and off like a tap?

The only – and I mean only – people to benefit from our current food policies are the retailers who can achieve very handsome mark-ups on cheap imports. The market is certainly not operating to the benefit of British growers or to that of the British public, who are being palmed off with often inferior products grown under goodness knows what conditions. I was delighted to be told this week that farmers in my constituency have received £266,937 from the Farming Investment Fund, part of a total £19million awarded to over 3,300 pig, poultry, sheep and cattle farmers.

All well and good. But some serious attention must now be paid to horticulture where encouraging and increasing production will not only be good for the farming economy and good for the nation’s health but will also help us make considerable inroads into cutting our import bills.

The benefits are potentially huge and are certainly within our grasp as long as there is the political will to achieve them.