Bridging the Gap's growers report 'slugfest' and poor harvests amidst reports of record rainfall as Sustain responds to the government's Autumn Budget and welcomes the commitment to ELMs.
Growers working on Bridging the Gap's pilots across the UK have reported a challenging growing season. After record rainfall, England suffered it's second worst harvest this year while growers supplying the Welsh Veg in Schools pilot reported a slugfest and disappointing yields on certain veg.
Aberdeenshire farmer, Phil Swire who grows organic green peas to supply Aberdeen City’s school for Bridging the Gap's Give Peas a Chance pilot reported 'favourable' harvesting conditions. However, he is noticing more extreme weather:
"I am sure conditions are getting more extreme with every year that passes. We have decided against winter cropping preferring to have cover crops in the ground if we can."
In the North West of England, wholesaler Organic North, supplier of Bridging the Gap's Liverpool Queen of Greens organic pilot, were able to weather the storm and ensure UK supply of fruit and veg due to their scale which croses regions. The worker’s co-operative now has 30 UK growers supplying produce to them weekly. Nonetheless, there were still supply risks and smaller growers were impacted by the 'slugfest':
"We almost had to try and import spuds for the first time in about 10 years from Europe but we managed to scrape through without any gap again. That was a genuine worry."
Looking ahead, Northern Ireland grower Barry Ferguson, working on Bridging the Gap's Newtownards Accessible Vegbox, is focussed on diversification and coooperation:
"Our strategies for resilience will be based around growing a broad range of crops each year, building links with our local community to ensure a short supply chain, and developing cooperation with other growers to allow sharing of gluts and surpluses we may each have."
There will be some relief as The Autumn Budget commited £60 million from DEFRA for the Farming Recovery Fund to help those hit by severe weather in England. After rumours swilling of deep cuts to budgets £2.4 billion for farming was protected, with £1.8 billion earmarked for Environmental Land Management (ELM) schemes.
Will White, Sustainable Farming Coordinator at Sustain says:
"While there is still much room for improvement in ELM schemes, this budget marks a promising step forward for the future of farming and nature. Now, it's crucial that DEFRA focus on easing the application process and quick payments to ensure that farmers can access funding swiftly.”
DEFRA's funding increases to £7.5 billion for 2025-26. Although an overall real term increase to the total budget, this remains a real term cut to the farming budget in England, which has not increased since 2007. ELMs is the primary mechanism that the UK can use to meet it's targets on land to be Net Zero by 2050 and halt the decline in nature by 2030.
Looking forward, Sustain and it's alliance reinforces it’s calls on government to:
- Develop a Land Use Framework that ELMs situates within, balancing food production and environmental targets with other commitments.
- Develop and fund a Horticulture Strategy.
Bridging the Gap’s pilots are demonstrating the opportunities for climate and social justice that government investment in farming can bring. Stay tuned as we reveal some of the emerging recommendations from our pilots this year.
Visit Bridging the Gap for more pilots and sign up to our newsletter
Copyright: Duncan Cuthbertson | iStock
Bridging the Gap: Exploring ways to make organic food more accessible via farmer-focused supply chains.