Veg Shortage

[old'un]

we were going to have a chicken salad tonight but it looks like it will have to be chicken and chips.

we have got so used to having all these summer products all year round that when they ain't there you realise just how dependant we have become on imports, what's the situation near you?

[Spr1985]

The wife couldn’t find cucumbers (a fruit I know) anywhere the other day as well as a couple of other things. 
 

from the farmers mouth “the problem is the rising cost of heating the greenhouses and the supermarkets refusing to pay the extra money for the product”  can’t say as I at all surprised by that either 

[wisdom]

Supermarkets have dictated the prices for too long.Plenty of stuff at our local farm shops though.Maybe a little dearer but it's where we try and shop.It all lasts longer too.

[TIGHTCHOKE]

https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/mum-49-slams-lidl-barring-buying-100-cucumbers-juice-veg-shortage/

[Stonepark]

Gas price is still north of 120p per therm (i.e. 3x the old price) and whilst it has come down significantly, the gas required for heating and CO2 for green house production is still effectively too expensive for 'cheap' supermarket produce and suppliers are quite right to refuse to produce, whilst supermarkets are trying to for e prices on them that do not cover their costs.

[Stephen-H]

Couldn't get pepper's from the super markets the other day to add into the planned tea for that night's curry so added spinach instead & made a different curry turned out better.  Something's can be substituted or tweaked

Tomato & pepper's seem thin on the grounds near me haven't noticed anything else really ...except frozen breaded onion rings ..bizarre can't find them anywhere. 

Edited February 23, 2023 by Stephen-H

[JohnfromUK]

I order most of my veggies on line (Ocado).  Delivery yesterday, (Wednesday 22nd) had all the veggies requested (including lettuce, tomatoes, peppers), no shortages or substitutions.

[Yellow Bear]

13 minutes ago, Stephen-H said:

Couldn't get pepper's from the super markets the other day to add into the planned tea for that night's scheduled curry

Always use frozen peppers for curry.

[Surfer]

Not really a shortage as the supermarket want you to believe,they just won’t pay the prices for them!

Another price hike coming like the last few supposed shortages that they created, buying local grown produce and changing shopping habits helps.

No sale no cash look at lurpak massive price hike months ago now having offers on for it ,I found a cheaper alternative and will stick to it even if lurpak was a penny cheaper than alternative 

[ditchman]

1 hour ago, Stonepark said:

Gas price is still north of 120p per therm (i.e. 3x the old price) and whilst it has come down significantly, the gas required for heating and CO2 for green house production is still effectively too expensive for 'cheap' supermarket produce and suppliers are quite right to refuse to produce, whilst supermarkets are trying to for e prices on them that do not cover their costs.

mostly this.....

many of the big green houses are empty ...light and heating just too expensive to run

[Dougy]

Years ago you wouldn't get Cucumber in Feb anyway, no big deal really. Another good idea to grow your own veg as we always used to, we are so used to having everything handed to us on a plate these days. 

I remember salting runner beans and storing in Kilner jars, tomatoes would be skinned and stored in the freezer, apples wrapped in paper and stored in wooded box's. 

 

I wonder how many muppets are stock piling Cucumbers in the freezer. 

[oowee]

28 minutes ago, ditchman said:

mostly this.....

many of the big green houses are empty ...light and heating just too expensive to run

The shelves in Europe are apparently stacked out. Why the shortage in the UK? 

[Stephen-H]

2 hours ago, Yellow Bear said:

Always use frozen peppers for curry.

I always over look frozen veg to be honest is there any benefitual reason for using them apart from time saving in terms of chopping etc or do they soften up quicker? 

[Mungler]

4 minutes ago, Stephen-H said:

I always over look frozen veg to be honest is there any benefitual reason for using them apart from time saving in terms of chopping etc or do they soften up quicker? 

Frozen Veg is the answer.

Less food waste too.

 

[ditchman]

2 hours ago, oowee said:

The shelves in Europe are apparently stacked out. Why the shortage in the UK? 

the energy price in EU ?..........

[39TDS]

Biggest reason for the current shortage is an unusual cold snap in the European producing areas has spoiled the crop.

This shortage has lead to a rise in prices that the supermarkets refuse to pay so the growers tell them to jog on. That's why the indipendant greengrocers still have stock but at a higher price. 

There is reduced production due to energy prices too but the cold weather is the biggest player in the current situation.

 

Extreme weather events are principal cause of industry’s chronic supply shortages and sky-high spot prices, according to Tim O’Malley of Nationwide Produce

Erratic and unusual growing conditions, not inflation, are the main cause of the chronic supply shortages and astronomical spot prices seen across a number of fresh produce categories in Britain.
This was the emphatic message from group managing director of Nationwide Produce, Tim O’Malley, who stressed that “Mother Nature” is “the biggest issue we now have as an industry”.
The weather, rather than inflation, was the “the talk of the show” at Fruit Logistica, he said. And volatile growing conditions linked to climate change have seen spot prices shoot up and remain high across a number of different fruit and vegetables.
“There’s no greater barometer of supply and demand for produce than the spot price,” said O’Malley, “and I can honestly say that in the 40 years I’ve been in this trade, I’ve never seen such high spot prices across such a broad range of products for such a prolonged period of time.”
He gave the following examples in a market update written on 14 February:
 

Product	Current spot price per box delivered	Approx. normal spot price at this time of year
Yellow peppers	£22	£8-£9
Red peppers	£21	£8-£9
Green peppers	£13	£7-£8
Round tomatoes	£14	£6-£8
Cherry tomatoes	£17	£5-£6
Aubergines	£18	£6-£8
Courgettes	£12	£5-£7
Cucumbers	£16	£5-£7
Iceberg	£19	£6-£8
Cos	£15	£7-£8
Gem	£18	£10-£12
Broccoli	£20	£8-£10
Cauliflower	£14 (was £24 last week)	£6-£8
Red cabbage x25kg net	£15	£7-£9
Dutch onions x4kg net	£700/tonne	£250-£280/t

“The spot job is running at 100-200 per cent above the norm. Depending on the crop, inflation would account for around 20-40 per cent of that,” he said.
“The biggest issue we now have as an industry is not inflation, it’s Mother Nature. She’s wiping the floor with inflation.
“So, what does this mean? For the retailers: empty shelves. We’re already seeing it. The retailers are locked in a price war and reluctant to move on price, so I’m afraid they will continue to suffer from major shortages. We’re seeing empty shelves now and I can only see it getting worse over the next few weeks and months.
“With regards to foodservice and wholesale, poor availability will continue – although hopefully we’ll start to see a reduction in the exceptionally high prices we are experiencing now.
“That said, I very much doubt spot prices will drop back to normal levels for the rest of this season. I expect prices to remain relatively high. It’s yet another increased cost burden that the hospitality industry needs like a hole in the head.”

Era of cheap produce ‘must end’
The Nationwide Produce boss complained that despite all the pressures on growers and suppliers, demand for cheap food at retail was driving down domestic fruit and vegetable production and increasing the need for imports.
“Growers are being asked to carry the risk of battling against Mother Nature in return for a low-price contract that customers see as the norm,” he said.
“With ever-increasing extreme weather patterns, the risk-to-reward ratio for growers is becoming unbearable. The era of cheap fresh produce needs to come to an end.”
Weather woes
According to O’Malley, the current production problems began with Europe’s summer heatwave and drought, which was followed by a “very mild autumn” and a winter “deep freeze” that saw temperatures drop to -15°C in Catalonia.
“Spain is our main source of fresh produce in winter by far,” he said. “And they’ve pretty much gone straight from a red-hot summer to a freezing cold winter with no autumn in between.
“All crops will suffer, even protected crops, when you experience such a sharp drop in temperature. All this has led to a major reduction in yields, a reduction in size, quality issues, viruses, thrips, botrytis etc.”
Spain isn’t the only country to suffer with adverse weather of course. O’Malley also pointed to prolonged periods of sub-zero temperature in Morocco, another major source of fresh produce for Britain in the winter, and major problems for UK vegetable growers.
“We have a proper storm brewing on a range of vegetable crops,” he said. “After the warmest summer on record, Britain suffered a cold snap in December that saw temperatures countrywide dip as low as -8°C for a prolonged period.
“This caused frost damage to various crops such as carrots, parsnips, cabbage and over-wintered cauliflower, resulting in many fields being written off. We are about to see serious shortages and price hikes on these lines in the coming weeks and months.”
Spanish shortfalls
Looking at Spanish production in greater detail, Nationwide’s technical team in Almeria reported the following crop shortfalls due to cold weather in January:

• Tomatoes -35 per cent
• Cucumbers -50 per cent
• Aubergines -35 per cent
• Courgettes -40 per cent
• Peppers -40 per cent

In cucumbers, Nationwide reported a significant decrease in the production and availability in Almeria and Granada, with adverse growing conditions contributing to an increase in viruses. These conditions continue to seriously affect crops, resulting in general crop failures and product shortages.
Meanwhile, in peppers the season has been “tremendously complicated”, the supplier said, due to erratic temperatures, poor fruit set, and the appearance of tobacco thrips – a virus previously associated with ornamental plants. These factors have combined to cause a significant drop in volumes.
In addition, aubergine production has been “severely reduced” due to climatic changes. The fruit suffers more than other products from extreme temperature differences and sudden drops in temperature affect fattening. Twenty-degree swings between day and night have severely reduced production.
Tomatoes, however, are the most affected product in terms of yield, with the appearance of devastating disease ToBRV causing the collapse of some crops

[Stonepark]

DEFRA does a weekly price list of wholesale prices for fruit and veg.

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/wholesale-fruit-and-vegetable-prices-weekly-average

 

 

[Ratlegs]

11 hours ago, oowee said:

The shelves in Europe are apparently stacked out. Why the shortage in the UK? 

Sainsbury boss says a lot is down to BREXIT just to get you going this fine morning

[yates]

No tomatoes or eggs in either Aldi or morrisons yesterday evening. 

[JohnfromUK]

58 minutes ago, Ratlegs said:

Sainsbury boss says a lot is down to BREXIT just to get you going this fine morning

Someone from food industry interviewed on R4 this morning said it was solely down to two things

1. Weather in Spain and Morroco which he pointed out wasn't Brexit, the EU, or Russia/Ukraine
2. Cost of fuel for heating growing areas - which was a world price issue (caused mainly by Russia/Ukraine situation) mainly on gas prices and exacerbated by inflexible supermarket contracts not increasing prices to growers to pay for additional fuel costs.

Like anything - everyone will blame it on their own particular factors - and Sainsbury's certainly won't blame themselves for not paying the extra to cover the extra gas costs.

[Ratlegs]

10 minutes ago, JohnfromUK said:

Someone from food industry interviewed on R4 this morning said it was solely down to two things

1. Weather in Spain and Morroco which he pointed out wasn't Brexit, the EU, or Russia/Ukraine
2. Cost of fuel for heating growing areas - which was a world price issue (caused mainly by Russia/Ukraine situation) mainly on gas prices and exacerbated by inflexible supermarket contracts not increasing prices to growers to pay for additional fuel costs.

Like anything - everyone will blame it on their own particular factors - and Sainsbury's certainly won't blame themselves for not paying the extra to cover the extra gas costs.

I heard about Sainsbury's yesterday on R4, think got to believe what you see

[JohnfromUK]

12 minutes ago, Ratlegs said:

think got to believe what you see

Indeed and as I posted earlier, my groceries order this week was complete including tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, broccoli.  I didn't order cucumber, but it wasn't shown as 'out of stock'.

My local independent green grocer is fully stocked (but more expensive that the on-line).  I have been in a local supermarket 'store' as I find 'on-line' more convenient.

I think it may be a bit like the 'great loo roll' shortage which was predominantly caused by panic buying.    I read one person was stopped with a trolley of 100 cucumbers!

[39TDS]

38 minutes ago, JohnfromUK said:

I read one person was stopped with a trolley of 100 cucumbers!

The article said she bought that many every week and had done for some time. More to do with her smoothie making than panic buying.

[bruno22rf]

With luck this situation will encourage more people to grow their own, Lettuce grows over winter (got a greenhouse full of it now) as do some Onions, bell peppers can be frozen and Toms and Cucumbers are dead easy to grow in the summer months.

[JohnfromUK]

Just now, 39TDS said:

The article said she bought that many every week and had done for some time. More to do with her smoothie making than panic buying.

In which case - being able to buy at supermarket prices and not from a wholesaler (presumably to run a business as I cannot imagine any family would use 100 cucumbers a week) says a lot about the prices supermarkets pay the grower compared to normal wholesale markets.

The man in the food industry speaking on R4 today said that the reason that greengrocers and their wholesalers had stock and supermarkets don't is down to the price the supermarket pays the grower making it uneconomical to grow at a time of year when growing needs gas/energy to grow 'out of season' produce.