London: When European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen visited Britain last week, some joked on social media: Can you please bring us some tomatoes?
People in the UK have had to ration salad staples like tomatoes and cucumbers for the past two weeks amid a shortage of fresh vegetables. Shelves of fresh produce in many stores have been bare, and most major supermarkets have imposed limits on how many salad bags or bell peppers customers are allowed to buy.
Officials blame the problem on recent bad weather in Spain and North Africa, saying the shortages could persist for up to a month. But many people were quick to point out that other European countries don’t seem to be suffering the same challenges, leading some to wonder if it was a consequence of Britain’s divorce from the EU.
Britain’s government has rejected the suggestion that Brexit is to blame. But shoppers aren’t happy, and Environment Secretary Therese Coffey’s suggestion that consumers should “cherish” British produce and eat more turnips instead of imported food drew widespread mockery.
Experts say Brexit likely played a part in the food shortage, though a more complex set of factors — including climate change, the UK’s overreliance on imports during the winter, soaring energy costs and the competitive pricing strategies at British supermarkets — are more salient explanations.
A look at some of the factors contributing to what one European broadcaster has called Britain’s “vegetable fiasco”:
COLD WEATHER, HIGH ENERGY BILLS
Unusually cold temperatures in Spain and heavy rain and flooding in Morocco — two of the biggest tomato suppliers to the UK — have led to poor yields and are cited as the primary cause of the shortage.
In Spain, farmers blame recent freezing temperatures following record heat and dry conditions last year.
In the southern province of Almeria, which grows 40 percent of Spain’s fresh vegetable exports, the production levels of tomatoes, cucumbers and eggplants fell by over 20 percent during the first three weeks of February compared with the same period in 2022, according to FEPEX, an organization representing Spanish fruit and vegetable exporters. The group said the situation is improving.
Heat and drought in Europe last year also are affecting vegetable harvests in other countries, including Germany.
Separately, the Netherlands, another major tomato producer, has seen a drop in output because skyrocketing energy bills tied to Russia’s war in Ukraine meant many growers couldn’t justify the cost of turning on the LED lights in their greenhouses this winter.
Vegetable growers in the UK have reported that they, too, were forced to leave their greenhouses empty.
Richard Diplock, managing director at the Green House Growers based in southern England, said his energy costs are some six times higher compared with previous winters.
