The head of the National Farmer’s Union (NFU) has warned that vegetables risk being rationed this year which is what “we saw with eggs in December.”
Minette Batters of the NFU said shoppers could see limits on some vegetables from tomatoes to cauliflower as the UK is heading into “uncertain times” as production is already falling.
Batters said that “field veg” such are purple sprouting broccoli and potatoes could also be impacted this year.
She said, “Everybody wants to avoid rationing, effectively, which is what we saw with eggs in December,” adding, that I think there are going to be challenges on availability of some food items,” such as peppers and salad ingredients which are gown in heated buildings.
She warned in her speech to the NFU conference that “the clock is ticking” for the government to act and stressed that last thing anybody wants to do is to create a level of panic buying.”
She is hopeful that rationing can be avoided, but this requires the government to act and support farming’s energy dependent sectors to provide more support to the Energy and Trade Intensive Industries scheme.
Speaking to Sky News the head of the NFU said, “The real danger here is that unless we can give farmers and growers the confidence to keep investing, they’re producing less. That will drive further cost inflation for consumers. That’s what we want to avoid.
“This is, of course, all driven by the price of gas, which has come down, but is still three times higher than it was in 2019.”
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