Supermarkets are responding to severe flooding in the UK with a promise of retail price rises to UK growers where necessary. “We are doing all we can to support our suppliers and to help them get their produce into stores,” said a Tesco spokeswoman. “We are in close contact and as ever, retail prices will reflect any cost price rises in the supply chain.”
And Asda said it was trying to source as much UK product as possible. “Any growers that have product, we are paying the market price,” an Asda spokesman told FPJ. “The retail price of broccoli has risen, we are supporting UK growers. We are absorbing some costs and maintaining a value price for UK product in respect of current conditions.”
The news came as growers warned that prices for fresh produce grown in the UK will have to rise and major retailers must back their suppliers with better pricing or risk them turning their back on horticulture for good.
“If ever we needed support from our big customers, then now is the time,” said Richard Hirst, chairman of the NFU horticulture board. “It is all very well cutting prices and promoting to win market share, but if they don’t support UK growers at the moment, then many may have to do something else in the future.”
In the West Midlands the ground has been so wet this week that potato-lifting is at a complete standstill and Anthony Snell, NFU horticulture chairman for the region, estimated that the largest crop losses were in potatoes, with hundreds of acres lost. “There is a lot of acreage under water and almost every grower has lost a proportion of their crops; some individuals have lost more than 200 acres,” said Snell.
And the British Potato Council has emphasised the problems going forward. “In all areas, major concern centres on crop flood losses, water-logging and blight and their future impact on the harvesting and storage of crops,” the council said.
S&A Produce estimates that it has lost five hectares of its strawberry production to the floods. “Proportionally, five ha is not a lot for us and operationally we have been able to continue as normal, although we have had to be strategic with regard to transport as the A49 is shut and we have had to plan routes carefully to get workers in and fruit out,” said a spokesman for the Herefordshire company.
Crops of field vegetables are also affected and Snell warned that harvesting of leeks, parsnips, carrots, cauliflower and lettuce were all disrupted. “But more importantly, growers should be planting for the autumn and over-wintered vegetables and they can’t do that,” he said. “There will be an ongoing economic impact into the autumn.” And onions, like potatoes, are likely to be very unstable in store.
The impact on organic crops is likely to be even higher and one grower has lost his entire organic Sante potato crop in Norfolk.
Growers nationwide are having to spend far more to just get their crops to market, for example £100 extra an acre on crop protection measures for some lines and in one case in the south-west, using six tractors to drag a harvester through a field to harvest lettuce.
“Retailers need to sit up and take notice,” said Hirst. “There are going to be some big issues going forward. No one can remember another summer like this.”
No comments yet