Growers say supermarkets are prioritising imports over British production
Growers of British winter cauliflower are becoming increasingly angry about supermarkets’ widespread prioritisation of imported product over domestic supply.
FPJ has spoken to a number of leading suppliers of the crop, who have all confirmed that supermarkets are shunning British product and instead buying in winter cauliflower from Spain and France. As a result, a considerable volume of British cauliflower has been left to waste in fields, and growers have been left questioning the future viability of the line.
The issue also raises serious question marks over supermarkets’ publicly stated commitments to support British farmers, as well as their high-profile attempts to reduce both food miles and food waste.
Greville Richards, MD of Southern England Farms, stated that the issue is “causing huge frustration for many growers in Cornwall”, while other suppliers in the key production regions of Lincolnshire and Kent have also voiced their dismay.
Kent grower Trevor Bradley said the situation puts in doubt the viability of future plantings, particularly as production in the county is already a fraction of what it once was. He also questioned retailers’ net-zero targets, weighing up four days on the road for Spanish cauliflower deliveries versus four-to-five hours for British. “From a carbon footprint perspective, it’s disastrous,” he said.
British suppliers have told FPJ that cauliflower is a huge commodity in the winter, on a par with broccoli. “We’re talking tens of lorry loads going to retailers every day,” said one. “But retailers are putting more and more programmes into France and Spain in the winter, and that’s what everyone is getting up in arms about. There’s a diminishing market of orders for homegrown product.”
Growers report hundreds of acres of cauliflower being chopped up in Cornwall alone, in scenes that make for very uncomfortable viewing at a time when the government is talking up Britain’s need for food security.
In a LinkedIn post in February, Peloton Produce director Nigel Clare noted that sales for winter cauliflower producers are down by as much as 16-40 per cent this season. “I am still seeing imported cauliflower in our markets and on the high street when UK product has been and is in abundance,” he wrote. “Please purchase UK produce and support UK growers and our economy.”
Shelf prices rising
The situation is particularly frustrating for British growers because it comes at a time when cauliflower has been enjoying a renaissance. After playing second fiddle to more fashionable broccoli in the early years of the century, cauliflower has grown in popularity among UK consumers, driven by greater awareness of usage and rising consumption in the US.
According to the latest available figures from Defra, the planted area for UK cauliflower fell by 1.1 per cent to 8,754ha in 2023, with overall production reducing by a sobering 10 per cent to 71,000 tonnes.
Autumn and winter rains made production difficult. The weather-hit supply in 2023 saw market prices rise by as much as 50 per cent to £1.26 per head of cauliflower, Defra reports. The overall value of the crop increased by 33 per cent to £75 million.
The current retail price is typically £1.19 for medium cauliflowers, and £1.80 for extra-large heads.
Retail response
One theory as to why supermarkets are switching to Spanish supply is that they are able to purchase extra-large heads of cauliflower that cannot be grown in England, giving shoppers a bigger vegetable that is well suited for family consumption.
The counter-argument is that larger heads could lead to greater food waste if a consumer does not finish the larger vegetable, or if they live in a smaller household. There’s also an argument based on the weather and spreading risk.
A spokesperson for the British Retail Consortium told FPJ: “Food retailers source, and will continue to source, the vast majority of their food from the UK. In winter, supermarkets source cauliflower from both British and European suppliers to ensure availability for customers due to volatility of the crop.”
Long-term implications
One Lincolnshire brassica grower, who asked to remain anonymous, warns that as retailers are trucking in extra-large cauliflowers, it’s training consumers out of buying the medium-sized product, which could be extremely damaging for British suppliers in the long run.
“As they are bringing over this larger product, people are trading into it, whereas if it wasn’t on shelf, they wouldn’t have the choice. They’d have to buy the UK medium cauliflower, and they wouldn’t look back.”
The accusation is that retailers have created a demand where there wasn’t one, while simultaneously freezing out domestic producers. “We are selling less UK cauliflower because of it, and we have had to look at other lower-value markets,” the grower said. “It’s frustrating not being able to sell all of the crop the way we’d want to sell it.”
Trade bodies mobilise
Brassica Growers Association chairman David Simmons said there are five big reasons why he is against supermarkets’ move to Spanish: food miles, food security, local employment, value to the community, and freshness of product. “Next year everybody will be wondering whether to grow as much,” he added. “If our industry declines significantly here, and they get a problem in Spain with the climate, or strikes or anything else, they could end up with shortages appearing.”
Simmons confirms that growers have had to leave crops in the fields as a result of the situation. “Some retailers are selling mainly British cauliflower, however I think all supermarkets should be supporting British and buying it wherever they can. It’s very important they keep that going, and the public should be looking out for British cauliflower when shopping and supporting British growers,” he says.
Jack Ward of British Growers said the trade body has been approached by cauliflower producers and is considering making a formal approach to retailers over the issue. “We’ve got into a crazy situation where we are ploughing in cauliflowers in Cornwall while trucking them up from Spain,” he said.
“It does not suggest that retail and supply is working hand in glove to make the best of the situation, and that is surely wrong. We are wasting good, wholesome, nutritious food and then spending a fortune bringing it in from the other side of Europe. It is radically wrong, and something needs to change.”
Ward added that as one of the few vegetables that is available 52 weeks of the year in the UK, there’s no excuse for supermarkets not to support it.
Richards pointed out that many growers in his network are keen to keep growing cauliflower and could even increase production with the right assurances from retail customers, making the situation even more frustrating and bemusing.
