In case you missed the big news about Britain over the past couple of weeks, here I am to lay it all out for you.
Stores in the UK ran out of tomatoes. And lettuce. And bell peppers. Tomatoes, in particular.
The UK's largest supermarket, Tesco, and discounter Aldi have said they are putting limits of three per customer on sales of tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers.
Asda has capped sales of lettuces, salad bags, broccoli, cauliflowers and raspberry punnets to three per customer, along with tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers.
And Morrisons has set limits of two on cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuces and peppers.
Tomatoes and peppers seem to be the worst affected but it's unclear whether this is simply because they are popular.
This was the kind of scene at stores across the country:
According to a trade group, “shortages of some fruit and vegetables could last until May.“
So, of course, the immediate thought on most people’s minds was, hey, is it because of Brexit?
The main issue … was a bad harvest in Spain and Morocco, where Europe and the U.K. get a lot of their winter produce. There was a late frost that killed a lot of the crops. In the U.S., most of our winter vegetables come from Chile, Mexico and California. So our salads are safe for now. The second issue, the war in Ukraine. It's caused energy prices in Europe to spike. So growing tomatoes in greenhouses, as they do in the U.K. and the Netherlands, has gotten so expensive, a lot of farmers have not done it this year, which has further cut back supply.
Brexit added to this complication.
The UK is, of course, even north of where I am. Both sunlight and warmth are limited through most of the year. Vegetables and fruits need light and heat. Which is why the UK imports a lot of food:
The UK imports 46% of its food, with self-sufficiency at about 54% in fresh vegetables (tomatoes, though technically a fruit, count as a vegetable here) and just 16% in fruit. This is highly dependent on the season: From December through to March, the nation imports 95% of its tomatoes and 90% of lettuce.
We live in a world in which we take the global movement of perishables for granted. We are not surprised to find bananas in grocery stores in Oregon; instead we demand best quality bananas any time we swing by the store. News happens only when there are no bananas or tomatoes in the stores.
We live in a world of abundance that makes us forget that not too long ago, humans had to make do with whatever their neighborhood provided. Through most of our existence, we humans were locavores. The English and the Scots and the Welsh and the Irish did not miss tomatoes and potatoes because they had no idea about tomatoes and potatoes and more. My folks in India did not know anything about the “English vegetables” like cauliflower and carrots and more. Now, I am pleasantly shocked to find even broccoli in smaller towns. Yes, there are people who do like broccoli! For that matter, there was no margherita pizza in Italy either because tomatoes had yet to arrive from the Americas.
Go ahead and imagine a dietary life without potatoes and tomatoes. What a nightmare, right?
Now that we are used to agricultural products from around the world being ready for our use anytime we want, well, the tomato crisis in the UK ought to wake us up to a couple of bigger issues. Like the global supply chain:
With the world’s food supply built on teetering blocks of super-suppliers (76% of global maize exports come from just four countries, and 86% of the world’s soybeans are grown in just three nations, for example) and just-in-time supply chains, it doesn’t take much of a shock to cause shortages in even the most food-secure countries. And you can bet those shocks will start coming faster as the climate crisis increases the intensity and frequency of droughts, floods and other weird weather events.
At the same time, “agriculture also happens to be one of the leading causes of climate change. From field to supermarket, food accounts for 26% of global greenhouse gas emissions.”
Reach into the vegetable compartment in your fridge. Kiss the veggies and fruits and be thankful for this abundant life.
PS: On a related idea, the following post from two months ago might interest you: