Fruit & Veg Crisis

UK Fruit & Veg Crisis

This isn’t the blog we want to be writing now, but it’s important to know. A new national food index found that just 17% of fruit and 55% of vegetables we consume are grown in the UK. But we wanted to look at 2 simple questions……. Why is this, and what are we doing about it?

Probably the first factor to note is the cost of producing fruit and veg in the UK vs overseas. With labour costs, energy costs, machinery costs and the overall cost of living to consider, the extra cost to produce fruit and veg in the UK is significantly higher than the cost to import from overseas. This leads to farmers getting not enough money from supermarkets, and little other options to take. 

Another big reason is seasonality and choice, with such a wide range of fruit and veg so easily accessible. The fruit and veg we want immediately isn’t always in season in the UK, or available at all. Since global shipping became cheaper in the 19th century, imported fruit and veg has grown in the UK. It’s a shame we can’t grow bananas and oranges over here! But hopefully if you’ve had a few of our boxes you’ve seen the variety and quality of locally grown produce.

The other factor is simply that as a nation, we don’t generally eat the recommended ‘5 a day’. with reports showing that less than 1 in 3 eat their 5 a day. 

But what difference does buying local actually make? Well, a big difference! 
 
We’ve already touched on food miles previously, feel free to have a read of that by clicking here. But more than that, local fruit and veg is better for us. As soon as you pick fruit and veg they will start to lose it’s nutrients and vitamins. So, if they’re being shipped long distances, they will have far less goodness when they land on your plate! 
Beyond that, supporting local farms also helps to maintain the landscape. With the costs mentioned before, it’s important we give farmers a fair price for the produce, so we don’t lose our local farms to housing developments or urbanisation. 

So, everything above is just a short summary as to why we started The Veg Round. We want to work with as many local farms, to provide the healthiest and tastiest fruit and veg, whilst supporting local farms and reducing the impact of climate change. We source fruit, veg and other produce as locally as we can, with an ambition to keep growing and make a significant difference and change to the way we shop. 

Thank you for reading and joining us on our journey!