What's happening?

Phew - what a relief! The tomato had reached its shelf on a supermarket. It could easily have been squashed or lost on the way.

The tomato started its life in HollandHolland is part of the Netherlands, a country in Europe. . It was grown from a seed into a small plant. Then it was taken by lorry and boat to England, where it kept growing in a big greenhouseA glass building in which plants that need protection from cold weather are grown..

Months later, the tomato was ready to be picked. A human took it from the plant, then a mini-tractor with no driver took it to a new area to be put in a packet. The packet was put in a lorry, and taken to the supermarket.

Not every tomato makes it to the shelf. In the UK, shoppers going to supermarkets have found empty shelves where vegetables should be.

Last year, energy prices rose. It cost a lot of money to heat greenhouses in the UK, so shops had to buy tomatoes from warmer countries like Spain and Morocco.

But cold weather and storms mean shops have not been able to buy enough tomatoes from these countries.

Find out more

Some say the fact that Britain has left the EU has made the problem worse - some farmers think new rules mean it is now harder to sell tomatoes to Britain than EUEuropean Union. An economic and political union of 27 countries. countries.

But others say the main problems are energy prices and the weather.

Is BrexitThe UK's departure from the European Union. to blame for empty shelves?

Yes! It is harder now for countries to sell tomatoes to Britain. This means that it is harder to solve any problems and buy more tomatoes when things go wrong.

No! The biggest problem is the price of energy, which makes it very expensiveCosts a lot of money. to grow tomatoes. And bad weather in Spain and Morocco only made things worse.