Britain’s fruit and vegetable growers have warned soaring energy and transportation costs caused by the war in Iran could leave supermarket shelves bare.
Growers’ associations across the country have raised concerns they may be forced to end their season early, with some comparing the situation to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Lee Stiles, secretary of the Lea Valley Growers Association (LVGA), said: “Growers are in the same position now as they were when Russia invaded Ukraine, because the wholesale gas prices are creeping up.”
The LGVA represents 70 glasshouse growers across the UK, and produces around 75 per cent of Britain’s cucumbers, sweet peppers & aubergines.
Mr Stiles added: “With rising costs, many growers are thinking they might as well send the staff home, stop for the season and not produce anything.
“They’re going to have to make a decision in the next few weeks as to whether or not it’s going to be economic to continue for the rest of the year.”
The rising costs to heat glasshouses could lead to crops struggling to grow, subsequently reducing yields significantly.
“Back in 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine, we ended up with empty shelves in the supermarkets,” Mr Stiles continued.
Britain’s fruit and vegetable growers have warned soaring energy and transportation costs caused by the war in Iran could leave supermarket shelves bare
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“The supermarkets agreed a fixed price with growers last year. They can intervene now if they wish and agree to pay more for the produce because of the increased cost of production.
“But it looks as though they’re prepared to have empty shelves again and reduced availability.”
In 2022, shelves were left so depleted that major supermarkets were forced to limit the amount of cooking oil people could buy.
Meanwhile, Rachel Williams, from the West Sussex Growers Association, which represents a network of over 50 members based in and around Chichester, revealed that “everybody’s obviously worried”.
“They are worried about what will happen, how it will develop, and the uncertainty of it all,” she said.
The rise in transportation costs, input costs, supply chain disruption and cost of heating glasshouses are very concerning, Ms Williams explained.
“On the transport cost, red diesel has gone up by more than 50 per cent in just 10 days, that’s huge for open field growers using tractors too,” she said.
With oil prices levelling out at over $100 per barrel, and red diesel prices soaring from 79.44 pence per litre on March 1 to 131.26 pence per litre by March 12, according to BoilerJuice, the comparisons to 2022 have become very real.
The National Farmers’ Union (NFU) met with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs earlier this month to discuss urgent farming issues caused by the conflict in Iran.
NFU president Tom Bradshaw said: “We’ve already seen this situation play out with the Russian invasion of Ukraine which drove an ongoing cost-of-living crisis here. And, with the removal of farm support which added a layer of resilience for many farm businesses, farmers are more exposed than ever to global markets.
“While the impact on food production and food price inflation will depend on what happens over the coming weeks, it is yet another sobering reminder of the need to build resilience in UK farming.”
