I certainly wouldn’t describe myself as a regular shopper.
But, occasionally, I get handed a shopping list and pointed in the direction of the nearest supermarket in order to open my eyes as to “what things cost these days”.
Now these trips aren’t very regular – you might even say my Tesco Clubcard is carved on a real club.
However, I was more than a little surprised on a visit a few weeks ago.
Fruit and veg gave me biggest shock
This was not just because of the prices but also by the origin of much of the produce stacked on the shelves.
We’re all aware of tricks retailers are reputed to play on the beef and lamb counters, co-mingling Scottish and British cuts and joints with those imported from afar.
But it was in the fruit and veg section that I got the biggest shock as I made my way through the “terra incognita” of the supermarket aisles.
I really struggled to find any of the in-season staples, cultivated in this country for decades, which had actually been grown here.
It’s not about the exotics
Now I’m not talking about anything exotic here like butternut squashes, sweet potatoes, avocados or pineapples which, it’s reasonably safe to suspect, would all struggle in our climate.
But since when did we need to import things like cauliflower, broccoli, white cabbage and apples from destinations such as Belgium, Poland, Spain, Kenya, Egypt or Peru?
You might be forgiven for thinking it’s yet another supermarket ruse to put cheaper products on the shelves and keep a lid on the price of home-grown products.
But I fear it may actually be even worse than that.
UK farmers squeezed out
In many cases, the real reason is that a lot of the farmers who produced fruit and veg, for many years the primary source of our healthy five-a-day choices, have been squeezed out by low returns and spiralling costs of production.
This is in addition to labour shortages and a wage bill which has risen by 75% over the past 10 years.
On top of the difficulties recruiting labour, another additional but less obvious cost is the lack of experienced pickers and packers since Brexit.
When we were members of the EU, Eastern Europeans flocked to do these seasonal jobs year after year.
They were both skilled and experienced at their chosen task.
Now, however, the majority of workers have to be hired through agents.
They have to be trained afresh and it often takes them a long time to become as proficient as their experienced predecessors.
When we were members of the EU, Eastern Europeans flocked to do these seasonal jobs year after year.”
It’s no wonder then that, with often poor prices and the difficulties associated with meeting one-sided contract agreements, many growers have thrown in the towel.
Others have switched to producing more straightforward crops which are less demanding on capital inputs and running costs.
This is a great pity because, despite taking up only around 2% of Scotland’s arable land, the growing of these horticultural crops has regularly accounted for the equivalent of more than 30% of the income generated on it.
The fruit and veg sector punched massively above its weight.
It added hugely to overall productivity levels and sources of employment in rural areas, while at the same time providing a local source of the sort of foods we’re all being encouraged to eat.
The truth about fruit and veg
The supermarket trip opened my eyes to the stark statistics that less than 17% of fruit and just over half of the veg consumed in the UK are actually grown here.
And this is before the drastic weather effects of the past 18 months are taken into account.
There’s a real need to track down local products and put confidence back into the sector before any glimmer of hope for the future which may still remain is extinguished forever.
Brian Henderson farms a mix of arable and livestock enterprises with his family in Perthshire.
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