The fruit that helped give the "Garden of England" its name hundreds of years ago no longer makes money. Because of this, farmer James Smith is tearing down his orchards. "I don't really want to get rid of all of my fruit but I simply cannot see a way of overcoming all of the challenges," Smith said at his farm amid the rolling hills of Kent, southeast England. His family have grown apples there since 1882.
Turning a profit from selling red apples to supermarkets has been a struggle for years, he said. A more unpredictable climate has been compounded by the lack of labor to pick fruit in the years after Britain left the European Union. The surge in inflation over the last year brought the situation to a head. For 2022's crop to break even, he said he needed supermarkets to pay him 20% more than the previous year for each giant wooden crate of apples. Supermarkets offered 0.8% more.
Britain's fruit production has been in decline since 2015, according to government figures, and was down 12% in 2021 from the previous year. The United Kingdom imports about 85% of its fruit needs annually.
Source: reuters.com
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