A FARMER has claimed he knows the reason why shoppers are seeing a lack of vegetables on supermarket shelves.
It comes as fresh produce such as tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce are in short supply at the moment.
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Some big chains, including Tesco and Aldi, have now introduced limits on how many items shoppers can buy to avoid panic buying.
British farmer Olly Harrison said shared his thoughts on why the shortage is happening on social media.
Posting on his TikTok account ollyblogsagricontract, which has 71.6K followers, Olly said the issue is that supermarkets and processors are not paying a “fair price” for production.
He said: “You might have noticed that some supermarket shelves are getting empty this is because of a supply of tomatoes and cucumbers not being there.
“Why are they not there? Well it’s dead easy.
“It’s the supermarkets and the packers and processors which supply the supermarkets, not wanting to pay the truest cost of production of the products.”
Olly said that the price rise of gas and oil in recent months has seen the cost of production go up.
This means that growers are not able to afford to heat their greenhouses to grow vegetables out of season.
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He said this issue is also happening in parts of Europe as well.
The farmer added: “They’ve just simply not been producing it.
“Now had people been getting a fairer price for what they were producing, reflective to the energy prices, then the suppliers would have carried on.”
He warned that shoppers will continue to see empty supermarket shelves and that fair trade home grown produce would be one solution to the problem.
What else is causing the vegetable shortage?
Other issues facing supermarkets struggling to fully stock their shelves also include poor weather in regions like Spain and Morocco.
Over the winter months, the majority of the UK’s salad stock comes from these regions, which have been hit by particularly cold weather.
Andrew Opie, Director of Food & Sustainability at the British Retail Consortium (BRC), said: “Difficult weather conditions in the South of Europe and Northern Africa have disrupted harvest for some fruit and vegetables including tomatoes and peppers.
“While disruption is expected to last a few weeks, supermarkets are adept at managing supply chain issues and are working with farmers to ensure that customers are able to access a wide range of fresh produce.”
UK vegetable stock being affected by bad weather is not uncommon.
Shoppers have seen shortages in the past on supermarket shelves because of unusual growing conditions.
Previously in 2017, poor growing conditions in Europe – largely in Italy and Spain – meant Brits saw a lack of vegetable stock in their local shops.
Experts at the time estimated the shortage would cost UK supermarkets at least £8million.
There was also concern in 2018 that an onion shortage could occur because of hot weather damaging crops.
In the same year, the growth of peas was also impacted by hot weather.
What fruit and vegetables are in short supply?
Fresh fruit and veg are affected by the shortages, but not all products are affected.
The following items have been rationed at supermarkets right now:
- Tomatoes
- Peppers
- Cucumbers
- Lettuce
- Salad bags
- Broccoli
- Cauliflower
- Raspberries
Aubergines could also be affected, the National Farmers Union (NFU) has said.
Plus spinach and spring onions are also affected by shortages, the BRC confirmed to The Sun.
However, there are currently no buying limits in place for these three items at major supermarkets.
For the full list of supermarkets rationing fruit and veg see our roundup.
Meanwhile, for more information on why shelves are empty, you can read our explainer.
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