News that inflation is starting to fall but food prices still rocketing will bring mixed emotions for the public. UK inflation fell to 10.1% in March – this is down from 10.4% and the surprise jump that was recorded in February, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said last month.
Asked on LBC radio whether her members were making money from food prices rising, Minette Batters, President of the NFU said ‘certainly not’. She said that decisions by glasshouse growers on whether to plant crops that are ready to eat now, would have been made last autumn and that gas prices are still 150% more than they were in 2019.
She added that high gas prices were not only driving energy costs, but feed and fertiliser costs too and this has been one of the biggest challenges for growers for some time. Consumers, she said, were still paying a lot less for their food compared to Europe and now the US.
In March, Ms Batters told a House of Lords horticultural sector committee that government policy is too heavily weighted in delivering for the environment almost at the cost of food production. She added; “Cost inflation for inputs is at a record high; energy is up 165%, fertiliser up 40%, and workforce costs are up over 13%. Much of this is not being reflected in contractual relationships, so growers are carrying a huge proportion of the risk.”
So is the answer to either provide more support for growers until cost pressures ease or more money for R&D to make them more efficient to continue to counteract the price rises? There is a big question mark other whether industry will receive either.
The system is broken but the growers aren’t yet. The challenge is how industry pushes horticulture and farming up the government agenda in the next few years as its priority list is growing by the day.
The May issue also includes articles on,
- Early peat ban date surprise
- Energy prices driving screen replacement
- Irrigation treatment & scheduling
- Lighting for the future
- FPC careers and futures review
- Technical conference updates herb growers
To read these and more from “The Commercial Greenhouse Grower” subscribe today – find out more here.