London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 09, 2025

Fruit and vegetable shortages 'to last four weeks', says George Eustice

Fruit and vegetable shortages 'to last four weeks', says George Eustice

Shortages of some fruit and vegetables will last for three to four weeks, a former environment secretary has said.
George Eustice also insisted there was "nothing much" the government could have done to prevent empty shelves in supermarkets.

The government and industry have blamed bad weather in Spain and North Africa for the squeeze.

But chef and restaurateur Thomasina Miers warned the food system was "completely broken".

Major UK supermarkets have been placing limits on fruit and vegetable sales after shortages, and consumers have faced empty shelves in some shops.

There are shortages of tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, salad bags, broccoli and cauliflowers.

Producers have warned that shortages could last until May, with the situation being made worse by UK growers delaying planting crops because of high energy costs.

But speaking on the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg show, Mr Eustice said he expected the problems to last around "three-to-four-weeks".

He blamed a "cocktail of weather events" for the problems, and added that food prices were always closely linked to energy prices, which spiked due to the war in Ukraine.

He also said there was "not much different the government could have done in recent months" and "there's nothing they can do immediately" to avoid the problems affecting supply chains.

Mr Eustice said supermarkets have to "work to get it right" to ensure the disruption to supplies of some vegetables are restored.

He did acknowledge that action was needed "longer term".

"We should be committing to onshore production, so glasshouse production of cucumbers and tomatoes, we should be trying to build that here," he said.

But Ms Miers, who runs the Wahaca chain of restaurants, called for an overhaul of the government's approach to food.

Describing the UK's food system as "completely broken", she said: "There's a time bomb we are sitting on".

She warned: "If we think cucumbers and tomatoes are bad, we are looking at way worse in the next decade."

Ms Miers called for more investment in regenerative farming, and using technology to support farmers to move to more sustainable methods of food production.

But Mr Eustice defended the government's record, saying: "We've now got nearly half of farmers in what we call Countryside Stewardship doing exactly the sort of regenerative agriculture that Thomasina talks about."
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
×