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Land for growing fruit and vegetables should be doubled, new Government told

22 Jul 2024 4 minute read
Pannas harvesting.Photo Daniel Law/PA Wire

Farming and environment groups have called on the new UK Government to double the amount of land used to grow fruit and vegetables.

The UK must stop relying on imports and fix diets by scaling up a “nature-friendly” British horticulture sector, an open letter co-ordinated by the Soil Association says.

The letter warns that if the current decline in British fruit and vegetables continues, the UK will “face further disaster” for supermarket shelves, health and the environment.

It follows a report from environment charities the Soil Association, Sustain and The Wildlife Trusts that says action must be taken to boost consumption of local and nature-friendly fruit and vegetables while insisting that farmers and growers must be given a fair deal to deliver sustainable food security and healthy diets.

Imports

Campaigners have highlighted that imports account for most of the fruit and nearly half of the vegetables consumed in the UK, while less than a third of people eat their five a day.

Their call for Government intervention to back sustainable British farmers and growers and for land used for horticulture in England to double would see an increase from around 2% to 4% of farmland they said.

The letter to Sir Keir Starmer says that more land is currently used to play golf than to produce fruit and vegetables.

It reads: “Across the country, growers of all scales are working tirelessly to achieve a simple but vital mission: to nourish people with good food.

“But the sector faces devastating decline. Nearly half of our growers fear for the survival of their businesses and fruit and vegetable consumption in the UK is at the lowest level in half a century. Less than a third of us eat our five-a-day.

“What’s more, the produce that does reach us is too often imported from countries that are increasingly impacted by extreme weather. Almost half of our vegetables and more than 80% of our fruit is imported. This cannot go on. We urgently need more – not less – home-grown fruit and veg, or we face further disaster for supermarket shelves, our health, and the environment.”

Homegrown fruit and vegetables

The Soil Association is also asking anyone who agrees with the letter to sign a pledge on the charity’s website to say they support homegrown fruit and vegetables.

The report calls on the Government to revive plans for a UK horticulture strategy, which were scrapped last year.

It also calls for the UK government to put more money into incentives for nature-friendly fruit and vegetable production, including organic, alongside tailored support for small-scale growers.

Report co-author and Soil Association senior policy officer Lucia Monje-Jelfs said: “British fruit and veg is in crisis. Our diets are costing the NHS billions every year and the countries we import from are being hit by the impacts of climate change.

“If we scaled up agro-ecological horticulture like organic, boosting access to healthy and sustainable food across the country, we could help to reverse the public health disaster, slash farming emissions, and restore wildlife. The new government must act to support the country’s growers.”

The groups also call for farmers and growers to be supported through a shift away from farming on peat, which releases vast amounts of carbon into the atmosphere and causes severe soil erosion.

Will White, report co-author and sustainable farming coordinator at Sustain, said: “The UK stands at a critical juncture in its approach to food production and public health.

“Our current food system is not only failing our health, with diet-related diseases costing the NHS billions annually, but also leaving our growers vulnerable to unrelenting market pressures and climate impacts.”

Guy Singh-Watson, founder of organic veg box company Riverford, said: “The new Government has a responsibility to spark a shift to a fair farming system where sustainable, British production brings us more of the food that is essential for human and planet health.

“Overall, a long-term plan is needed to build up more, shorter, and farmer-focused routes to market, which would not only allow British family farmers to make a fair return on their produce, but also allow them to invest in decent jobs for rural communities, protecting our climate and nature, and strengthening our supply of high-quality, home-grown food for generations to come.”


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Rhufawn Jones
Rhufawn Jones
3 months ago

Tybed beth wnaiff llywodraeth Cymru o’r newydd yma, a hywthau’n codi tai i wladychwyr ym mhob man.

Why vote
Why vote
3 months ago

Devastating, disaster, costing NHS billions, empty supermarket shelves, farming emissions, government subsidies, environment not eating 5 a day. All the key words used. All the vegi growers have to do is lower their prices below that of imported products, growers of these products should not be relying on government subsidies. Or just ask the government to ban imports of vegetable products so there is no competition for your products. It’s called supply and demand within a global marketplace.

John Brooks
John Brooks
3 months ago
Reply to  Why vote

It is called profit before people. Profit is made on the transport of food from abroad. Supermarket pricing doesn’t differentiate between imported and home grown, if imported is cheaper supermarkets make more profit.

Charles Coombes
Charles Coombes
3 months ago

Firstly use the horsiculture land, then any land that can be ploughed and then use glasshouse nearer to urban areas.

John Ellis
John Ellis
3 months ago

Easier said than done, I suspect. We live in a very rural area, but the sole farm shop within practical reach of us is a small poultry farm which opens three mornings a week. They sell their free range eggs every day, relying on payment via an ‘honesty box’ when the shop isn’t open. And intermittently – during harvest season – they also provide a retail outlet for another local farm which grows potatoes, beetroot and sometimes one or two other sorts of veg., with the same payment regime. But that’s it. It’s a twenty mile plus round trip to… Read more »

Mab Meirion
Mab Meirion
3 months ago

‘Tatws Bryn’…73 years of growing beautiful veg shows the way…

John Brooks
John Brooks
3 months ago

But today it is reported that a massive solar power unit has been approved by Ed Milliband on irrigated fertile and productive vegetable growing land in England.

Frank
Frank
3 months ago

I travel from South to North Wales often using the A483 and don’t see a carrot or a spud growing anywhere. There are thousands of sheep though. Can a farmer please explain why we don’t grow more produce here in Cymru. When I visit local markets all I see is English, Spanish, Moroccan, Italian produce but rarely Welsh. Also, why can we buy lamb from New Zealand at half the price of Welsh? For goodness sake we are almost falling over sheep here!! If Wales was to pull up the drawbridge on the rest of the world we would starve.

Paul Symons
Paul Symons
3 months ago
Reply to  Frank

Among lots of other reasons, Geography climate and soil type. Make different areas suitable for different crops. Eg. Root crops require deep stone free soil.

Frank
Frank
3 months ago
Reply to  Paul Symons

Perhaps so, but when I was growing up in the 1950s I remember fields and fields growing vegetables and farmers used to come around the houses with their carts and tractors selling their produce direct from the farm. How did it work so differently back then?

Paul Symons
Paul Symons
3 months ago
Reply to  Frank

At the risk of getting shot down flames we live in a very different world to those days. I could say that when you were growing up In the 50’s people weren’t so money oriented. Things were improving since the end of WW2. These days we want so much more. When I was in Agricultural College in 1978 I left to work on a 120 acre farm milking 60 cows. Big changes occurred around that time with changes in ‘the Common Market’ the rise of the supermarkets and demise of the Milk Marketing Board and Potato Marketing Board and such… Read more »

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