Wales imports the vast majority of its fruit and vegetables while dedicating only about 0.1% of its agricultural land to horticulture.
Duncan Fisher, co-founder of Our Food Trust, wants to establish 100 farms across Wales to grow produce for local markets. Agriculture accounts for 90% of the country’s land use. Horticulture occupies a tiny fraction of that area.
Fisher said that the United Kingdom has a centralised food system where 95% of the food eaten is bought from nine supermarkets. Products move continuously across motorways in lorries because storage is minimal in this just-in-time model.
We are hugely dependent and these vegetables are coming from really vulnerable parts of the world like south Europe and north Africa – the areas most prone to drought, fires and overheating.
Duncan Fisher, Our Food Trust
Establishing local farms requires resident growers who can protect crops from high winds or stray livestock during the night. Planning regulations have made it difficult to build homes on farmland.
Growers at Wern Farm experienced severe operational challenges during the summer. Lydia Dibben, a 28-year-old grower at the farm, said the past summer was the hardest she had experienced in five years of growing.
The hours I was keeping were just insane. I was getting out to the field at 05:00, and then working until it got just too hot to be outside, which was like 11:00 some days, maybe even earlier.
Lydia Dibben, grower at Wern Farm
Dibben manages just over an acre. She produces 50 vegetable boxes weekly and supplies farmers’ markets alongside regional and national wholesalers. She envisions a future where similar small-scale farms operate every 10 miles throughout Wales.
The Welsh government said “significant progress” had been made on its plans to create a national food strategy to “target a more resilient, integrated and sustainable food system,” which includes mapping the position of the sector with key stakeholders.
Meanwhile, the UK government’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said it recognises the hurdles that fruit and vegetable growers face.
We recognise the hurdles that our vital fruit and vegetable growers face, which is why we are slashing planning red tape and investing £200m to help farmers trial crop boosting technology.
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Earlier coverage: Our Food Trust Warns of Fragility in UK Food Supply Chains
