UK relies on heat-stressed countries for fruit and veg it could grow itself – report
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- Food Foundation report found the UK imports about 40% of its food overall, including 80% of fruit and 47% of vegetables — a higher reliance on imported fruit than France, Germany, or Spain.
- 18 of the top 20 countries supplying the UK with healthy staple foods were rated moderately to severely vulnerable to climate breakdown, per the Food Foundation analysis.
- Five of Britain's nine most-purchased fruits — apples, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and pears — can be grown domestically, yet the UK produces less than 40% of domestic consumption for four of them.
- Only carrots reach a high level of self-sufficiency (94%) among vegetables; tomatoes, mushrooms, peppers, cucumbers, onions, broccoli and green beans are produced at roughly half domestic demand.
- The UK has endured five record heatwaves, drought and wildfires this year, damaging domestic crop yields even as the country leans on suppliers in the Mediterranean, north Africa, and South and Central America — regions the IPCC flags for severe climate impact.
- Glasshouse horticulture businesses say energy costs in the UK are higher than in neighboring European countries, forcing some to cut production alongside labor shortages, poor weather and post-Brexit subsidy changes.
- Ali Capper, chair of British Apples and Pears, said growers need seasonal worker access, water, agile planning rules, competitive energy and long-term market agreements to expand — concerns the government must address in its forthcoming horticulture growth plan.
Why it matters: The UK is outsourcing the climate risk in its food supply to countries the IPCC expects to suffer the worst yield declines, while domestic growers are blocked from filling the gap by higher-than-European energy costs and labor shortages — so a climate shock overseas could simultaneously shrink imports and leave underused British fields unable to compensate, raising prices on staples British consumers already struggle to afford.
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