<
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/aug/19/uk-heat-stressed-countries-fruit-veg-import>
"The UK is vulnerable to food price shocks because of its dependence on imports
of fruit and vegetable from countries even more exposed to the climate crisis,
researchers say.
Much of Britain has sweltered under a record five heatwaves this year and
endured drought and wildfires, with the hot, dry conditions damaging crops and
reducing yields of domestic produce.
However, the UK relies on countries under even greater climate pressure for
supplies of some of its most popular fresh foods, according to a report from
the Food Foundation charity published on Wednesday.
While the UK generally produces enough grains, meat, milk and eggs to cover its
needs, it has one of the lowest food self-sufficiency ratios among large
western European countries.
About 40% of its food is imported – including 80% of its fruit and 47% of its
vegetables – one of the highest rates of reliance on imported fruit in Europe,
making the UK more dependent on imports than France, Germany or Spain.
The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has forecast that
without action to improve resilience, higher temperatures will cause lower
yields, heat stress for plants, and poorer quality fruit, vegetables and other
crops, especially across the Mediterranean, north Africa, and South and Central
America.
The Food Foundation’s warning comes after the industry body the Cold Chain
Federation, and top food experts, sounded the alarm in recent months that
extreme weather, fuel shortages or cyber-attacks were all creating risks for
supplies of food into the UK.
The charity, whose mission is to change food policy and business practices to
ensure everyone in the UK can afford access to a healthy diet, is calling on
the government to invest more in helping British farmers adapt to the changing
climate to increase domestic production.
In what the Food Foundation calls a “mismatch between UK domestic food
production and dietary goals”, its report found that 18 (90%) of the top 20
countries supplying the UK with healthy staple foods were rated moderately to
severely vulnerable to climate breakdown."
Via Susan ****
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
