Published48 minutes ago
Farmers need to grow more fruit and vegetables to ensure the UK is not overly reliant on foreign imports, the government has warned.
A new national food security index, external – which tracks overall production – found that just 17% of fruit and 55% of vegetables are grown in the UK.
New funding for growers was announced at a Downing Street food supply summit.
Critics say the £80m scheme does not go far enough to support farmers hit by extreme weather and rising costs.
The National Farmers’ Union (NFU) warned that many of its members feared they would go bankrupt before they received the benefits of the extra funding.
It pointed to its recent survey of farmers’ confidence that found 65% of those that replied said their profits were down or their business might go under.
NFU President Tom Bradshaw said of the government’s plans: “These are long-term strategic ambitions and, thanks to the wettest eighteen months since 1836, many of our members face a serious short-term crisis and believe they may not survive long enough to benefit from these announcements.”
The most recent statistics for the horticulture industry, external show that in 2022 the UK produced around 2.4m tonnes of vegetables and 652,000 tonnes of fruit, with a value of £1.8bn and £1bn respectively.
But it also imported £2.7bn worth of vegetables and £3.9bn worth of fruit.
The government released its new annual food security index, that covers all farming and food production sectors, on Tuesday.
It said
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