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By ROSIE TAYLOR FOR THE MAIL ON SUNDAY Published: 00:20, 30 March 2025 | Updated: 00:22, 30 March 2025
British cauliflowers are being ‘left to rot’ in fields while supermarkets ship in the vegetables from Europe, farmers have claimed.Growers say major supermarkets are ‘spurning’ British produce in favour of larger cauliflowers grown in countries like Spain, France, Italy and the Netherlands.They have accused supermarkets of hypocrisy for publicly stating they support British farmers and are acting to reduce food miles and waste, while importing goods from overseas.Jack Ward of the British Growers trade body told the Fresh Produce Journal: ‘We’ve got into a crazy situation where we are [wasting] cauliflowers in Cornwall while trucking them up from Spain. ‘We are wasting good, wholesome, nutritious food and then spending a fortune bringing it in from the other side of Europe. It is radically wrong, and something needs to change.’The Fresh Produce Journal, an industry news publication, reported how several British cauliflower producers had been unable to sell their stock to supermarkets this winter, meaning they have been forced to leave it to go to waste in the field. Several said they were considering stopping growing it altogether – which could cause future supply shortages.Nine out of ten autumn and winter cauliflowers grown commercially in the UK are sold via supermarkets, in an industry worth £35million per year, according to the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB). British cauliflowers are being ‘left to rot’ in fields while supermarkets ship in the vegetables from Europe, farmers have claimed Nine out of ten autumn and winter cauliflowers grown commercially in the UK are sold via supermarkets, but the chains are increasing opting to buy larger varieties grown in Europe Cauliflowers are harvested by workers at TH Clements vegetable growers near Holbeach in Lincolnshire on January 19 2022Demand for the brassica has grown in recent years, partly due to rising popularity of vegan and vegetarian diets. Cauliflowers can grow in the UK all year round but the winter growing season is typically from October to March.Trevor Bradley’s family has been farming vegetables in East Kent for 150 years and now mainly supplies the catering industry.He told the Mail on Sunday: ‘There is an influx of Spanish, French and Italian cauliflowers on the market right now, even though we have an abundant supply of British cauliflowers. In the supermarkets, all you see is foreign products.’It takes four or five days to bring cauliflowers up from Spain on a truck – and customers are not getting the vegetables when they’re fresh.’English farmers who supply supermarkets are having to ‘chop up’ as much as 40 per cent of their stock because supermarkets were not buying as much as they had previously agreed, Mr Bradley said, describing the situation as ‘demoralising’.He believes supermarkets turned to European supplies after wet weather last winter affected the British crop. But stores have suggested the weather this year is also to blame.
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Farmers’ fury as British cauliflowers are ‘left to rot’ in fields – with supermarkets ‘favouring’ larger veg grown in Europe
