The Government must now see the dangers of empty supermarket shelves - GP Taylor

When I left the store, the news on the car radio said that some supermarkets were now rationing the supply of vegetables due to supply chain issues. They blamed the shortage on bad weather in Spain and Morocco.

During the winter months, Britain imports about 95 per cent of its tomatoes and 90 per cent of lettuces, most from the affected region. Meanwhile, UK farmers have cut back owing to soaring prices of gas and fertiliser required to grow crops and heat their greenhouses.

The situation is ridiculous. The horticulture sector is not included in the Government’s support scheme for energy intensive industries. The Royal Botanic Gardens qualify for help heating their plants, but the protected crop sector, those growing tomatoes, cucumbers, aubergines, and peppers to feed British families don’t.

In her opening speech at NFU Conference 2023, NFU President Minette Batters warned that the clock was ticking for the government to back British farming to feed a changing world. She said: “The rhetoric of successive governments that ‘we are a wealthy country… we can just import our food’ must be exposed as naïve in the extreme in a rapidly changing and challenging world.”

How right she is. Yorkshire has never faced such a dilemma before. No food on supermarket shelves instils a subtle panic in the population that all is not right with the world. Perceived food shortages feel more like another weapon in the arsenal of Project Fear rather than reality.

A quick check with suppliers in Morocco, showed their markets to be filled with ample supplies of fresh produce with no shortage visible. Some sources say that this scarcity is more to do with European politics rather than bad weather. Minette Batters said, “when it comes to exporting to our neighbours in the EU, our farmers face the full gamut of EU controls while, three years on, we fail to apply the same level of controls on their imports.”

This is not a level playing field for our food growers. Britain cannot be reliant on imports from the EU.

On top of this, Yorkshire farmers are feeling the financial pressure. No longer do they get straight forward subsidies as direct payments are phased out against a backdrop of huge cost of inflation.

Agricultural inputs have risen almost 50 per cent since 2019. Fertiliser prices have risen by 169 per cent, energy up 79 per cent as well as animal feeds rising by 57 per cent. Despite recent falls, gas prices remain three times higher than ‘normal’. All these combine to make a perfect storm and a food security crisis.

Frighteningly, as we face shortages of food, the Dutch government is trying to limit the number of farms in their country in the drive to achieve Net Zero. So much so that there are plans to buy up over 3,000 farms over the coming years in an attempt to stop flatulent cows adding to climate change.

Yet, farmers like Gareth Wyn Jones are doing everything possible to make his Welsh farm friendly to wild animals and as diverse as possible. Only last week, he was building wildlife corridors across his land. In this, farmers should be supported as much as possible and be exempt from any ridiculous Net Zero legislation.

As British farmers work hard to ensure a greater degree of animal welfare, our government is making deals with other countries where the treatment of animals is suspect and does not match our standards.

The recent food shortages have shown that we need to have food security. It would be impossible to be self-sufficient in everything we eat, but we could at least be 70 per cent homegrown. The government must now see the dangers of empty supermarket shelves. Hungry people are angry people and will not tolerate a lack of food.

What the NFU conference has shown us is that British farmers need support of law makers and not to be hindered by cumbersome legislation and the vain virtue signalling pursuit of Net Zero. Farming in this country has to be expanded and not curtailed. In summing up her speech at the NFU conference, Minette Batters said that the clock is ticking on farming in this country and that it was time for the government to get serious about food security. In this changing world, we have to be more self-sufficient in what we produce. The last few weeks have shown us we cannot rely on imports to keep shelves stocked.

GP Taylor is a writer and broadcaster who lives in Yorkshire.