UK food shortages: How growing more fruit and vegetable in cities could reduce the impact of empty supermarket shelves

Fruits

Vegetables

United Kingdom

Published Mar 16, 2023

Tridge summary

British supermarkets are imposing limits on how many salad staples shoppers can buy as supply shortages leave shelves empty of some types of fruit and vegetables. The disappearance of fresh produce is said to be largely the result of adverse weather leading to a reduced harvest in southern Europe and North Africa.

Original content

Freezing temperatures caused tomato production in the southern Spanish region of Almeria to drop 22% during the first few weeks of February compared to the same period in 2022. Extra bureaucracy associated with Brexit and skyrocketing energy prices are also likely to have exacerbated the severity of the shortages. This is not the first time the fragility of the U.K.'s fruit and vegetable supply has been exposed, nor will it be the last. The U.K. is highly reliant on imports of fresh produce—sourcing more than 40% of its vegetables and more than 80% of its fruit from abroad each year—so is already vulnerable to supply chain shocks. And climate change is increasing the frequency of extreme weather events. But more than 80% of people in the U.K. now live in urban areas. Expanding fruit and vegetable production in cities—a practice called urban horticulture—could thus help to reduce the severity of supermarket supply shortages in the future. The scale of food production from ...

Source: Phys