Tomato catch-up

Phew - what a relief! The tomato had finally reached a supermarket. It could easily have been squashed along the way. But here it was, ripe and tasty, just waiting to be bought.

Its life had begun as a tiny plant grown from seed in Holland. When it was four weeks old, it was taken by lorry and ship to England, where it was replanted. Its new home was a greenhouse the size of eight football pitches.

The plant was placed in a small box of soil and fed with water and nutrients. After a few weeks, it 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 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.

But because steep energy prices made greenhouses so expensive to heat, many farmers decided last autumn to reduce their crops.

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

Unluckily, both have had very cold weather. On top of that, storms have made it difficult for ships carrying tomatoes to sail. 

Yet other European countries have plenty of tomatoes on sale. According to farmer Guy Singh-Watson, EUEuropean Union. An economic and political union of 27 countries. growers are reluctant to sell to Britain because of all the BrexitThe UK's departure from the European Union. paperwork: "We are a customer of last resort... we're such a pain to deal with."¹

But another farmer, Olly Harrison, believes the main problem is that British growers make too little money from tomatoes: "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.