Farmers allege that British cauliflowers are going to waste in the fields as supermarkets continue to import the produce from Europe.
Farmers claim that large supermarket chains are preferring bigger cauliflower crops from nations such as Britain rather than locally produced vegetables.
Spain
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They have charged supermarkets with hypocrisy for openly declaring their support for British farmers and claiming efforts to decrease food miles and waste, even as they continue to import products from abroad.
Jack Ward from the British Growers association spoke to the Fresh Produce Journal saying, “It has become absurd that we are discarding cauliflowers in Cornwall even as we import them from Spain.”
We are squandering high-quality, nourishing food and subsequently paying a substantial amount to import it from distant parts of Europe. This situation is fundamentally flawed, and alterations must be made.
The Fresh Produce Journal, a trade newspaper, highlighted that numerous British cauliflower growers were unsuccessful in selling their produce to supermarkets during the recent winter season. As a result, they have been compelled to abandon their unsold crop in the fields to rot away.
Many indicated that they might stop cultivating it entirely, potentially leading to future supply shortages.
According to the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB), approximately 90% of the autumn and winter cauliflowers cultivated for commercial purposes in the UK are distributed through supermarkets, contributing around £35 million annually to the market.
The demand for brassicas has increased recently, largely because of the growing appeal of vegan and vegetarian diets. While cauliflowers can be cultivated in the UK throughout the entire year, their growth during the winter months usually spans from October to March.
Trevor Bradley’s clan has been cultivating veggies in East Kent for 150 years and currently focuses primarily on serving the foodservice sector.
He informed the Mail on Sunday: “Currently, there is a surge of Spanish, French, and Italian cauliflowers entering the market, despite our ample supply of British cauliflower. In grocery stores, however, one predominantly encounters foreign goods.”
It requires four or five days to transport cauliflowers from Spain via truck, and as a result, customers aren’t receiving the freshest vegetables.
Mr. Bradley stated that English farmers supplying supermarkets are forced to discard up to 40 percent of their produce due to supermarkets purchasing significantly less than initially agreed upon. He described this scenario as disheartening.
He thinks that supermarkets switched to European suppliers following the damp conditions during last winter which impacted the British harvest. However, retailers indicate that the climate this year has also contributed to the issue.
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