UK faces heightened risk of carrot and leek shortages, warns NFU

UK households face a heightened risk of shortages of carrots and leeks this year as the domestic farming sector struggles to adapt to more extreme weather and higher input costs, the president of the National Farmers’ Union has warned.

Minette Batters said on Wednesday that rising energy bills and labour shortages meant there was a “real danger” of the UK losing its horticulture expertise and becoming “ever more” reliant on imports of food. That would leave it more vulnerable to supply-chain disruption and increase the likelihood of empty supermarket shelves, she added.

“Leeks, cauliflowers, carrots, parsnips. There has been a lot less grown this year because of these challenges,” Batters told the Financial Times. “So we have become more reliant on imports . . . with weather events, disease problems, you don’t need many things to go wrong whereby you create a shortage.”

Batters’ comments followed a warning by leek growers last week that extreme weather had reduced harvests by “between 15 and 30 per cent”. Tim Casey, chair of the Leek Growers’ Association, said supplies of home-grown leeks would be exhausted by April, leaving the country dependent on imports.

The NFU on Wednesday urged the government to provide more support for growers in light of the recent rationing of products such as tomatoes and cucumbers by supermarkets.

It reiterated its call for ministers to add farmers to the roster of “energy-intensive” industries requiring extra help with costs, which the government last week rejected.

When the current energy bill relief scheme ends for businesses at the end of March, the industry will lose its price cap, with suppliers receiving a discount on their bills if costs rise above a certain threshold.

The NFU also called for a five-year rolling seasonal worker scheme with no “unrealistic” cap on numbers — a pressing demand since eastern European workers stopped coming in the same numbers after Brexit.

According to NFU estimates, in the first half of 2022, £60mn of food rotted in fields because of a workforce shortfall. 

Post-Brexit seasonal labour schemes have been plagued with problems, including claims of exploitation of Nepalese migrant workers, which led UK farmers to stop recruiting from the Himalayan country.

The government has said that it will issue 45,000 visas for agricultural labourers in 2023, with a contingency of 10,000 more. 

Batters said post-Brexit red tape had contributed to the shortages of salad items in supermarkets over the past few weeks, which have led five of the six biggest supermarkets to introduce rationing. 

Her remarks contrasted with the view of Spain’s agriculture minister, who yesterday acknowledged that red tape was a problem but said it was not the reason for the shortages.

“Brexit has added a level of complexity and friction and cost to those trading relationships,” said Batters. “We are a difficult marketplace. A marketplace of last resort for some [suppliers].”

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said it agreed with the NFU that “the domestic horticulture sector is crucial to the resilience of our food system”.

“Although there are currently some issues with the supply of fresh vegetables, caused by the poor weather in Spain and north Africa, the UK has a highly resilient food chain and is well equipped to deal with disruption.”