Researchers say expanding the horticulture sector could boost both health and the economy
Helping the UK’s horticulture industry to expand in line with people eating the recommended amount of fresh produce could add £2.3 billion to the UK economy, according to new research.
An expanded horticultural industry could also support up to 23,520 additional jobs, researchers at Green Alliance have claimed. It could boost farm incomes by three per cent, at a time when the government is exploring how to boost their profitability.
To meet dietary guidelines, people in the UK would need to increase the amount of fruit and vegetables they eat by a massive 86 per cent. Just a third of UK adults eat the recommended five portions of fruit and vegetables each day.
The horticulture industry is worth £5 billion a year, the researchers noted, citing figures from the House of Lords. It accounts for nine per cent of the total contribution of agriculture to the economy, but uses less than one per cent of the UK’s farmland.
Together, the beef and lamb industries are worth just 1.9 times more by value, the researchers pointed out, but they use 76 times more land. With agricultural land at a premium, they argue that it therefore makes sense to prioritise expanding the profitable horticulture industry, particularly given only 16 per cent of the fruit and 50 per cent of the vegetables eaten in the UK are grown domestically.
The report calls for a new horticultural strategy to address several barriers to growers pursuing more profitable horticultural activities, such as high energy prices, unfairness in supply chains and a food system where retailers make much bigger profits from selling unhealthy food.
Expanding horticultural production need not affect the UK’s self-sufficiency in other foods, Green Alliance researchers point out. They estimate that 113,622ha of land would be needed to expand horticulture production by 86 per cent. This is less than the 133,000ha currently used to grow bioenergy crops which become fuel, not food.
Lydia Collas, head of natural environment at Green Alliance, said: “We need to eat more fruit and vegetables to improve our health. But if we don’t grow more of them here, we’ll let profitable horticulture and the jobs it could support go elsewhere.
“We currently import more than half of our apples when we have everything we need to eat British apples year round. If the government is serious about improving people’s health and ensuring farmers have sustainable livelihoods, it needs a horticulture strategy.”
