Scaremongering by ill-informed journalist of a real possibility?
Warnings of world food shortages are gathering pace and the horsemeat scandal has highlighted the provenance of food
Outside in my shady urban garden there stands possibly the most fertile plum tree in Britain. We bought it four years ago in a garden centre, planted it, then ignored it entirely. Yet we have been rewarded, every August, with a crop so bumper that there are still bags of fruit in the freezer now.
It makes a great plum clafoutis – but, much as they might like to, my children cannot live by pudding alone. Which is why, if new grim government warnings about future food shortages are to be believed, we might soon be uprooting the swing to make way for potatoes, and sacrificing the decking in the cause of curly kale.
As a nation that imports 40 per cent of all the food we consume, Britain is in a precarious position if the supply chain breaks down due to poor harvests, rising international costs and competition from other countries clamouring to buy up dwindling stocks.
It was revealed earlier this month that our wet winter and freezing spring have led to the poorest potato yield (down 20 per cent on last year) since the drought of 1976. Jersey Royals will be at least a month late because of tardy planting due to adverse weather, and the price of a 2.5kg bag of white potatoes has risen by 43 per cent – up from £1.35 this time last year to £1.93. The carrot harvest has been hit by the waterlogged ground, peas and tomatoes have been affected by low levels of light, and Britain will also need to import more wheat than it exports for the first time in a decade.
Continue reading Must Britain now Dig for Survival?
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Scaremongering - their are several million acres of good land in this country that have falled OUT of use over the last 25 years, small farms under 50ac no longer viable so left as pasture (very inefficient to graze sheep when you could grow wheat or spuds, calorie for calorie), The rise of small equestrian holdings upto 20ac takes out upto half of good land surounding towns and urban areas in many cases, it all adds up.
Hopefuly shortages will push prices up, and give small farmers a chance to either re-enter the market or survive. Nothing like the market force to increase supply.