UK’s cucumber, pepper harvest to plunge

Stores in the UK may face shortage of cucumber and sweet pepper in the coming months, stated recent reports, claiming that many glasshouse growers have opted not to plant them in the face of surging energy costs and labour shortages.

Financial Times quoted Lee Stiles, secretary of the Hertfordshire-based Lea Valley Growers Association, which represents businesses that grow three-quarters of the country’s cucumbers and sweet peppers, who said that about half of the glasshouses were empty this year.

The remainder would yield less than usual because of growers cutting down on heating to save costs, he said.

It is now too late to plant further crops, meaning the UK will not make up the lost volumes this year, Stiles added, predicting a 50 to 60 per cent drop in yields for cucumbers and sweet peppers nationally in 2022.

At the start of 2021 growers were being charged 40p per therm for their natural gas, but prices have since surged as high as £8 in some cases as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine worsened market pressures, he said, adding that aubergine and tomato yields will also be affected.

“The gas price is still quite volatile and trying to get staff this time of year is nearly impossible, so it’s not worth planting, firstly because of the gas [prices] and secondly there is no guarantee they’re going to get the labour,” he said.

“There will certainly be a shortage of British-grown produce but whether they can make that up with imports I’m not sure,” Stiles said.

The Lea Valley’s 400 acres of glasshouses grow about 80mn cucumbers and 100mn sweet peppers in a typical year, about three-quarters of the UK crop of each, the group said.

Labour shortage is another major issue affecting these farms. The problem has worsened since Brexit that ended free movement from Europe; farmers and growers have called for an annual allocation of 30,000 visas under a seasonal workers’ scheme to be expanded.

A majority of last year’s seasonal workers came from Ukraine and the war has prevented many expected workers from arriving this year, reports said.

The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs said, “It’s crucial we do everything we can to support the farming sector. That’s why we have announced measures to support growers with the availability of fertiliser.”

It added that the government had also given “greater certainty in accessing seasonal migrant labour” by extending the seasonal workers’ visa scheme to the end of 2024, reports said.