Horticulture

A Leading horticulture body has hit out at supermarkets saying that retailers’ failure to back British growers over the winter has led directly to empty shelves and rationing.

The future of apple and pear growing in the UK is ‘on a knife edge’ after it emerged that more than a third of planned orders for trees have been cancelled.

A boost in both production and consumption of fruit and vegetables is essential if the UK population is to reach its required ’five a day’, according to a new report.

Industry bodies have welcomed an announcement from Government that 45,000 seasonal workers will be allowed into the UK for the 2023 growing season.

The NFU is calling for urgent clarity on the future of the Seasonal Workers Scheme, amid claims the industry’s future rests ‘on a knife edge’.

The UK beef suckler herd is set to contract by 10 per cent because of rising input costs and a lack of clarity from all Governments about future policy direction, an industry leader has warned.

The horticultural industry has established a grower-owned working group to provide support to a successor body to AHDB Horticulture to take over processing of EAMU applications and emergency authorisations.

ENVIRONMENT Secretary Ranil Jayawardena has been accused of giving up on family horticulture farms, as he flew to the Netherlands to look at glasshouse technology to boost home grown fruit and vegetable production.

Some retailers have been threatening growers with delisting for requesting cost price increases, Farmers Guardian has learned.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman could be set to clash with the Prime Minister and Defra colleagues after saying she would clampdown on the UK’s reliance on seasonal workers.