Food shortages: Andrew Pierce says 'don't blame Brexit'

We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info

In recent months, the UK has suffered from scarce levels of vegetables on supermarket shelves, owing to a range of factors, including Brexit and Covid. Difficult growing circumstances have also hindered crop yields, with many shoppers left to go without their favourite items for periods at a time. Now, farmers are warning that they will soon be in possession of surplus levels of cauliflower. So, what has exactly led to this back and forth development?

In the build-up to Christmas 2021 mild weather conditions meant British cauliflowers flowered too late for farmers to harvest them.

Instead, UK retailers were forced to sell French and Spanish imports over the festive holidays to meet consumer demand.

As a result, many agriculturalists up and down the British Isles are now beginning to face up to the issue of excess supplies and what to do with them.

The commercial director of one such company – TH Clements – in Lincolnshire, said growing conditions in 2021 were some of the worst for “for many years”.

Richard Mowbray told i news: “The cauliflower is a cool weather vegetable and the season started badly in August and September as we didn’t get any cold nights, which are important for growth.

“The plants did not flower at the right time, which is the end of October and beginning of November.

“Instead they started flowering in December, meaning they were a month behind schedule.”

One of the UK’s ‘big four’ supermarket chains, Tesco, has agreed to sell the vegetables but at a reduced price.

Why are food shortages being reported?

As recently as last week, UK shoppers were reporting shortages of fresh food products on supermarket shelves.

The issue has become more regular in the past two years partly as a result of supply issues created by the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union (EU).

Here, farmers have been unable to rely as much as they once did on overseas workers to harvest their produce, while stricter border checks have created added delays on supplies making their way into the country.

DON’T MISS:
Man wants to put traveller site on his own land [NEWS]
EU warned of ‘Swiss-Brexit’ as tensions with Bern reach boiling point [INSIGHT]
Nicola Sturgeon fury as SNP blasted for ‘wrong call’ [ANALYSIS]

The most recent Brexit change – in force since January 1 – saw the addition of further customs rules for goods arriving in Britain from the EU.

Importers must now make full customs declarations on goods entering the UK from the EU and other countries.

As a result, traders can no longer delay completing full import customs declarations for up to 175 days as had been the case previously.

Although the issue has been eased somewhat, retailers are also still combating a lack of heavy goods vehicle (HGV) drivers to deliver their orders.

Logistics UK, which represents freight and haulage businesses, reported that last autumn there were 44,000 fewer HGV drivers than at the same point in 2019.

Since then, efforts have been made to encourage members of the profession not to leave and to increase the uptake of trainee drivers, but issues are still persisting.

Moreover, the ongoing Covid pandemic has also affected fresh goods supply chains linked to the UK.

Many workers have had to self-isolate at points, while the emergence of Covid variants such as Omicron has only served to further exacerbate already stretched producers.

Source: Read Full Article