British fruit and vegetable growers warn of empty supermarket shelves due to Iran war
British fruit and vegetable growers are warning of potential production halts and empty supermarket shelves as rising energy and transport costs caused by the war in Iran threaten to make their operations unsustainable.
Industry leaders fear many producers may be forced to end the season early.
Lee Stiles, secretary of the Lea Valley Growers Association (LVGA), which represents 70 greenhouse growers across the UK, including the largest cucumber producers, highlighted the precarious situation.
He noted: “Growers are now in the same position as when Russia invaded Ukraine because wholesale gas prices are slowly rising.”
Without intervention, he warned growers would face a difficult choice: “With rising costs, many growers think it would be better to send their staff home, stop for the season and produce nothing.
“They will have to make a decision in the next few weeks about whether it will be economical to continue for the rest of the year.”
Failure to afford heating for greenhouses will mean that crops will stop growing, leading to significantly reduced yields.
Drawing parallels with previous shortages, Mr Stiles added: “When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, supermarket shelves were left empty.”
He called on retailers to take action: “Supermarkets agreed a fixed price with growers last year. They can intervene if they want and agree to pay more for the product due to the increased cost of production. But they look set to have shelves empty again and stocks dwindling.”
Rachael Williams of the West Sussex Growers Association (WSGA), which covers the production of a range of fruit, vegetable and ornamental plants, echoed these concerns.
He noted: “I’ve been in touch with our growers and everyone is obviously worried. They’re worried about what’s going to happen, how it’s going to develop and the uncertainty of it all.”
Ms. Williams explained that the crisis goes beyond direct energy expenditure, describing it as “literally quadruple.” “This is due to an increase in transport costs, input costs, supply chain disruption and, of course, heating of greenhouses from an energy perspective.”
Highlighting the dramatic rise in fuel prices for open field growers, he said: “In terms of transport cost, red diesel has increased by more than 50% in just 10 days, which is also huge for open field growers using tractors.”
Data from heating oil company BoilerJuice showed red diesel prices rose from 79.44 pence per liter on March 1 to 131.26 pence per liter as of March 12.
The warnings coincide with a meeting between the National Farmers Union (NFU) and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) to discuss the UK’s food resilience.
NFU chief executive Tom Bradshaw commented: “We have already seen this play out in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has led to an ongoing cost of living crisis there. And with the removal of farm support, which has added a layer of resilience to many farm businesses, farmers are more exposed to global markets than ever before.”
He concluded: “While the impact on food production and food price inflation will depend on what happens in the coming weeks, this is another sobering reminder of the need to build resilience in UK farming.”
