{"id":50237,"date":"2022-08-18T02:39:03","date_gmt":"2022-08-18T02:39:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tahrir2day.com\/news\/2022\/08\/18\/uk-drought-why-we-need-to-get-used-to-wonky-vegetables\/"},"modified":"2022-08-18T02:39:03","modified_gmt":"2022-08-18T02:39:03","slug":"uk-drought-why-we-need-to-get-used-to-wonky-vegetables","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tahrir2day.com\/news\/2022\/08\/18\/uk-drought-why-we-need-to-get-used-to-wonky-vegetables\/","title":{"rendered":"UK drought: Why we need to get used to wonky vegetables"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Fruit and vegetables on shelves will be smaller and look different when the hot and dry summer weather hits the harvest, experts say.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Potatoes, onions, carrots, apples and Brussels sprouts are likely to be hit hardest.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Rainfall has been very low in many areas of the UK in 2022 and parts of England are suffering from drought.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The National Farmers Union (NFU) wants supermarkets to accept more “shaky” produce and be flexible with producers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Scientists say heatwaves and droughts will increase with climate change and that we need to adapt to how it affects agriculture and our diet.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In Essex, farmer Sarah Green’s fields are dusty and the grass crunches under her feet.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Her plants are “alive, but not growing or thriving”. The hot summer sun has made her candy corn delicious but smaller than usual and she has had to lower her prices. Other plants still in the ground, such as cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, and broccoli, have stunted.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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And in Herefordshire, farmer Ben Andrews said his ‘nice green’ cabbage and kale was fine until a few days ago. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Now they’ve turned pale blue, he says. They feel leathery and chewy, no longer crisp and luscious.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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These crops are still in the fields, but soon we will buy them in supermarkets.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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It’s too early to know how many UK produce will die due to drought, but “crop quality” will certainly be affected, Jerry Knox, a professor of agricultural water management at Cranfield University, told BBC News.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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    \n
  • Where was drought declared?<\/li>\n
  • “Every day that it doesn’t rain, the pressure increases”<\/li>\n
  • Why downpours can’t help drought<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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    More potatoes will be smaller, with poorer skin quality and even some imperfections, he adds.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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    Vegetables this fall and winter “may not look normal, but they taste the same,” says Tom Bradshaw, vice president of the NFU.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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    “Consumers have been conditioned to believe that a potato looks a certain way,” says Bradshaw. To reduce the risk of further price increases during a cost of living crisis, “we need to be more relaxed about appearances,” he adds.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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    A representative from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) told BBC News that supermarkets were already accepting oddly shaped vegetables.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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    \u201cRetailers understand that weather conditions are a challenge and have taken steps to support their farmers. This includes expanding the range of unusually sized and shaped fruit and vegetables where the need arises,\u201d says Hannah Dougherty, Food Policy Advisor at the BRC.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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    In Essex, Sarah Green and her family only talk about rain. This year, 107 mm of precipitation was measured. Their annual average is 525 mm. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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    This drought means vegetables in the soil can’t get the moisture they need to continue growing, so they grow more slowly and don’t reach their full size. Lack of water can harden the skin or cause defects when the plant is stressed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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    Potatoes are very vulnerable to drought in the UK, where half of the country’s crop is rain-fed, explains Prof Jerry Knox. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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    Harvesting the potatoes will be a challenge as it will likely be difficult to get the combine into the hard soil, explains Sarah Green. It can form large clumps that damage or cut into pieces the crop.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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    Carrots, parsnips and onions will be affected in a similar way to potatoes, says Prof Knox.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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    By this time in the summer, the “damage is done,” he says, and even significant rainfall isn’t enough to repair the stressed potatoes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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    Farmers are also concerned about cabbages planted in the fall, such as cauliflower and broccoli. In many areas, there is concern that the soil is too hard for digging and the seeds will not survive in parched soil.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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    The last time Britain had a drought was in 2018, but rain came just in time to save most crops. But this year, the Met Office is forecasting several months of dry, warm weather.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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    Farmers might choose to sacrifice some crops to fully irrigate others, Prof Knox says. Collecting adequate water in the fall and winter will also be critical to preventing the drought’s effects from spreading into 2023.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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    In the longer term, however, scientists warn that parts of England, particularly the south east, will become much drier due to climate change. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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    Farmers are adapting and some have changed the crops they grow, but the unpredictability of UK weather makes this risky.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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    Alastair Chisholm, of the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management, says long-term adjustments to farming techniques such as regenerative farming, which helps the soil retain water, and investing in winter rain storage can be solutions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Fruit and vegetables on shelves will be smaller and look different when the hot and dry summer weather hits the harvest, experts say. Potatoes, onions, carrots, apples and Brussels sprouts are likely to be hit hardest. Rainfall has been very low in many areas of the UK in 2022 and parts of England are suffering […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business"],"yoast_head":"\nUK drought: Why we need to get used to wonky vegetables - Tahrir News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tahrir2day.com\/news\/2022\/08\/18\/uk-drought-why-we-need-to-get-used-to-wonky-vegetables\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UK drought: Why we need to get used to wonky vegetables\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Fruit and vegetables on shelves will be smaller and look different when the hot and dry summer weather hits the harvest, experts say. 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