Summer droughts and wildfires served as a stark warning, and winter flooding now threatens to leave Wales vulnerable to food shortages as climate disruptions mount.
Duncan Fisher, co-founder of Our Food Trust, points out that the nation imports the vast majority of its fruit and vegetables. Only about 0.1% of agricultural land in the country is dedicated to horticulture, even though 90% of total land is used for agriculture. Growers at Fisher’s Wern Farm near Newtown, Powys, argue that heavy reliance on external produce leaves the supply chain exposed to global shocks.
“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,” Fisher told Yahoo News.
Fisher also said that the UK has an incredibly centralised food system with 95% of the food we eat bought from nine supermarkets. He added that the system operates entirely on a just-in-time model with no local storage, leaving trucks moving across motorways and rendering the entire network vulnerable to cyber-attacks.
Lydia Dibben, a grower at Wern Farm, managed just over an acre this year while supplying 50 vegetable boxes a week alongside farmers’ markets. She described the recent summer as the hardest in her five years of growing, marked by soaring temperatures that forced her to halt work in polytunnels by 9:00.
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
Dibben spent the hottest part of the day indoors to “just survive until it was cool enough to go back outside at probably 17:00” before working until midnight to water parched crops. She said that despite constant irrigation, the heat left plants stunted and slow-growing.
Our Food Trust, established about 10 years ago by Fisher and Sue Holbrook, aims to build 100 farms across Wales to supply local markets. However, the organization found that securing stable housing for farmers remains a primary barrier. Fisher explained that growers need to live on-site to protect crops from sudden windstorms or stray livestock.
In response to mounting security and supply chain concerns, the Welsh government said that “significant progress” has been achieved on a national food strategy aimed at building a sustainable, integrated system that boosts domestic horticulture.
At the UK level, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs highlighted administrative changes and financial support to assist domestic producers.
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, UK government
Earlier coverage: Our Food Trust Warns of Fragility in UK Food Supply Chains
