How self-sufficient is the UK, fruit and vegetable-wise?
Fruits
Vegetables
United Kingdom
Published Oct 5, 2021
Tridge summary
The United Kingdom relies heavily on vegetable, and especially fruit, imports. They grow just over half their own vegetables. There were fewer imports in 2020, but production remained the same. The UK's vegetable self-sufficiency rate, therefore, increased. It rose by about three percent to 56%. That ended a long-term downward trend regarding vegetable self-sufficiency. When it comes to fresh fruit, 16% of domestic consumption comes from products grown on British soil.
Original content
That's the same as in previous years. This is based on figures from the UK's Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs. Quite lopsided vegetable production: mostly large, full-soil productsIn the United Kingdom, total vegetable production has remained fairly stable in recent years, at 2,5 to 2,6 million tons. It used to be higher. British vegetable farming consists mainly of large open-field vegetables. Carrots are, by far, the most important product; in 2020, farmers cultivated 700,000 tons. Onions and cabbage, with 400,000 tons each, follow. Greenhouse vegetable production is rather modest, with a total of 270,000 tons. Here, tomatoes are the most important product at a mere 65,000 tons. The various vegetables' self-sufficiency rates vary considerably every year. It ranges from 100% for carrots, 90% for cabbage, and 60% for cauliflower, to 50% for mushrooms, 33% for lettuce, and 15% for tomatoes. With fruit, only strawberries have a self-sufficiency rate above 50%. In ...
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