NFU Horticulture and Potatoes board member and field veg grower, Andrew Burgess, explores the need for government to increase efforts to improve national fruit and veg consumption to tackle the lifestyle-related disease burden on the NHS
Whenever anything good or bad happens in our business, we try and understand the root cause and then address that issue - treat the cause not the symptom.
Why then can’t our successive governments of all persuasions deal with lifestyle related illness and the consequential cost to the NHS, Social Care and society in the same way? It’s no good just bunging more and more £billions at the symptom - we must address the root cause.
We must start tackling education around food and lifestyle. The evidence of a positive start in life in terms of good diet is overwhelming; so why then has our government turned down the EU funded Fruit and Veg in Schools scheme and the EU funded School visits to farms?
Is it the structural issues in the Government department set up? (ie Education pays, Health Service benefits). Or is it that this will take a generation to bring measurable benefit: that’s 5 elections!
Furthermore, how can we, as growers, take back a larger proportion of the provenance of the fruit and veg consumed in the UK market?
Of all of the challenges Brexit may bring to our sector: labour, inputs and exchange rates, there is one glaring opportunity.
A Weak Pound, coupled with a strong British identity should be a huge boost to help us increase the level of Fruit and Veg self-sufficiency. We will be more competitive verses our overseas neighbours and there will hopefully be a patriotic bounce for British goods.
We should be lobbying for even greater transparency in origin labelling, not just in whole head fresh products but also for ingredients in ready prepared, frozen & processed foods.
I wonder just how high we could get the F&V self-sufficiency number if we all pulled together?