How is the fruit and vegetable self-sufficiency rate in the UK?

Published 2021년 10월 1일

Tridge summary

The UK's reliance on food imports is significant, with the country's self-sufficiency in vegetables increasing to 56% in 2020 due to reduced imports and stable domestic production. The majority of this production is concentrated on large open-field vegetables, with carrots being the leading product. The self-sufficiency rates for other vegetables and fruits vary greatly. Overall, the UK ranks as the third-largest importer of vegetables and the sixth-largest importer of fruits globally, with tomatoes and bananas being the most imported vegetables and fruits, respectively. However, the impact of Brexit on import figures is uncertain, with early data suggesting a decrease in imports from the EU in the first half of 2021.

Disclaimer:The above summary was generated by Tridge's proprietary AI model for informational purposes.

Original content

The United Kingdom is highly dependent on imports for fruit and vegetables. Vegetables for just over half of their own soil. Because imports were lower in 2020 and production remained the same, the self-sufficiency level of vegetables in the United Kingdom rose by three percentage points to 56% last year. This put an end to a long-term downward trend in vegetable self-sufficiency. As in previous years, 16% of the domestic consumption of fresh fruit comes from our own British soil. All this based on figures from the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs. Vegetable production rather one-sided: Mainly large field vegetables The total production of vegetables in the United Kingdom has been fairly stable in recent times at a level of 2.5 to 2.6 million tons. Before that, the production was bigger. British vegetable production mainly consists of large, open-field vegetables. Carrots are by far the most important product with a production of 700,000 tons in 2020. Then onions ...

Source: AGF