Tomato catch-up

Phew - what a relief! The tomato had finally reached a supermarket shelf. It could have been squashed any number of times, or delayed on its journey so long that it began to rot. But here it was, ripe and tasty, just waiting for a shopper to pick it up.

Its life had begun as a tiny plant grown from seed in the Netherlands. When it was four weeks old, it was taken by lorry and ship to England, where it was replanted. Its new home was huge - a greenhouse the size of eight football pitches, with room for 250,000 plants.

The greenhouse was heated to a temperature that was just right: 25C during the day and 18C at night. The plant was placed in a small box of soil and fed with water and nutrients. A string was attached to the ceiling so that the vine could climb it.

After a few weeks, the plant began to flower. Bees pollinatedTaking pollen from one plant to another so new seeds can be produced. it, and the baby tomato started to grow. Two months later it was ready to harvest.

A human picker placed it in a crate, which was taken by a driverless mini-tractor to the packing area. There it was checked for quality and put in a plastic box. Finally, it was taken in a refrigerated lorry to a distribution centre and on to the supermarket.   

But things do not go to plan for every tomato. And now Britain's biggest supermarkets are rationing how many tomatoes customers can buy.

Because rising energy prices made greenhouses hugely expensive to heat, many British farmers decided to reduce their crops.

That made the shops more dependent on tomatoes imported from countries with warmer climates - chiefly Spain and Morocco.

Unfortunately, both have been hit by bad weather, with mild winter temperatures giving way to a severe cold snap. On top of that, storms made it difficult for ships carrying tomatoes to sail. 

Yet other European countries seem to have plenty of tomatoes on sale. And according to Devon farmer Guy Singh-Watson, the difference is BrexitThe UK's departure from the European Union. . Because exporting to Britain from the EUEuropean Union. An economic and political union of 27 countries. involves expensive, time-consuming paperwork, "We are a customer of last resort... we're such a pain to deal with."¹

But Merseyside farmer Olly Harrison believes the main problem is that British growers make too little money from tomatoes: "It's not Brexit; it's not climate change; it's basically people not wanting to pay enough to keep them on the shelves."²

Yes: The resulting paperwork for imports from the EU puts off many suppliers, and has left Britain more dependent on Morocco, with all the resulting problems of transporting tomatoes from Africa.

No: The fundamental problem is the war in the Ukraine and the resulting energy crisis, which has made greenhouses so expensive to heat. Bad weather in Spain and Morocco has made things worse.

Or... We have all been spoilt by being able to buy our food cheaply from all over the world. The current problems should be a wake-up call to buy locally and pay more so that farmers are supported.