Supermarket vegetable shortage could continue for months

A national shortage of fruit and vegetables across the UK could last months with leeks, apples and pears running out next, according to industry experts.

Britain is already facing shortages of multiple fresh food items, prompting Tesco, Asda, Aldi and Morrisons to limit purchases of certain lines including tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers.

The National Farmers’ Union deputy president Tom Bradshaw said the shortages shows the nation has “hit a tipping point”.

“We’ve been warning about this moment for the past year,” he said.

“The tragic events in Ukraine have driven inflation, particularly energy inflation to levels we haven’t seen before.

“There’s worry from the growers that they’re not going to get the returns that justify planting their glasshouses, and at the moment we’ve got a lot of glasshouses that would be growing the tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, aubergine that are empty. And with some shock weather events in Morocco and Spain, it’s meant that we’ve had these shortages.

“It’s really interesting that before Brexit we didn’t source anything, or very little, from Morocco but we’ve been forced to go further afield and now these climatic shocks are having a real impact on the food available on our shelves today.”

Apples, pears and leeks could be the next food shortage in the UK, after it emerged British growers have planted just a third of the trees needed to maintain orchards while leek farmers were suffering due to adverse growing conditions.

Tim Casey, chairman of the Leek Growers Association, said: “Leek farmers are facing their most difficult season ever due to the challenging weather conditions.”

Ali Capper, head of the British Apples & Pears trade association which represents about 80% of the industry in the UK, said farmers planned to order just 480,000 apple and pear trees but that has been slashed to 330,000.

He added: “Supermarket returns are unsustainable. The majority of growers are losing money.”