The British Growers Association (BGA) has warned that there is a “real prospect” of food shortages in the UK.
The chief executive of the BGA Jack Ward, has warned that labour shortages could lead to crops rotting in fields, and reduced stock in supermarkets.
When asked on BBC Radio 4’S Today programme if there is a “real prospect” of food shortages, he said: “Yes, I think there is, because if you cannot get the labour, you end up going through the crops and you might just pick out the class one and leave some of the other produce that could have been picked from those fields.
“I think the longer-term issue is it just continuously erodes the confidence of growers.
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“The margin in vegetable produce is not that great at the best of times and if, at the end of the year, you see mounting losses, the obvious solution is to go and do something different which, at a time when we should be consuming and producing more vegetables, is a sad state of affairs.”
This comes as, according to the association, this season has seen shortages of workers, transport and packing materials resulting in rapidly escalating costs for growers.
This follows Big 4 grocer Sainsbury’s blaming the lack of lorry drivers in the UK for food shortages.
According to the Road Haulage Association, there is a “catastrophic” shortfall of around 70,000 lorry drivers.
