UK National Farmers Union head: Crops are being wasted while food banks are being stretched thin

06/15/2022 / By Ramon Tomey

The president of the United Kingdom’s National Farmers Union of England and Wales (NFU) revealed that crops are being wasted on farms while food banks around the U.K. are being stretched thin.

Speaking to Times Radio, NFU President Minette Batters described the “absolute crisis” occurring on British farms as many countries worldwide are tackling food supply issues.

“It’s a growing problem. I know glasshouses where tomatoes remain unpicked. We know there was a big crop of lettuce that was plowed back in [the soil] last week. We have food banks at full stretch, and yet we are wasting fantastic quality, nutritious products on farms,” she said.

“Growers are extremely reluctant to put their name to this because it will massively compromise their business with their contractual relationship going forward. So there is a real nervousness about speaking out on food waste on farms – but it is happening at scale.”

According to Batters, the whole supply chain “from farm to fork” was suffering from a serious labor shortage. She pointed out that this was not just related to a lack of post-Brexit seasonal workers, adding that “having a business in the U.K. is becoming extremely problematic.”

The head of the NFU added that she urged British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to arrange a meeting between food growers and Home Secretary Priti Patel to discuss issues facing the food industry.

“There is nothing more important for a government than being able to feed its people. Every retailer I speak to [says] the demand is there for consumers wanting to buy more British, more local, play their part in the climate change challenge – and so we have to fulfill that.”

Batters’ warning came as more people have relied on food banks due to the price increases of many products since the Russia-Ukraine war broke out in February. According to research, the number of Britons relying on food banks has increased to nearly one in six – from one in 10 last year.

Australia faces similar situation with avocados being dumped in landfills

The U.K. is not the only country experiencing a similar situation involving wasted crops. Australia also found itself dealing with food shortages and perfectly edible harvests going to waste.

Free West Media reported that truckloads of avocados were discarded in Australia’s northeastern Queensland state. The revelation came amid the Land Down Under experiencing a massive spike in food prices. According to Rabobank senior analyst Michael Harvey, Australia is suffering its highest year-on-year food inflation since 2011. (Related: Thousands of pounds of fresh avocados dumped in landfill as Australia accelerates global food destruction.)

Several Queensland residents expressed disappointment at the avocados being thrown away, as they could have helped alleviate food supply problems had they been donated to food banks.

One anonymous resident described the discarded mountains of fruit as “tons and tons and tons of avocados going to waste.” Jan De Lai, another resident, said the fruit was perfectly fine – but was dumped in the landfill to rot.

“Two trucks came in and just dumped big mounds of avocados. And I’d noticed that there’d also been a lot dumped there previously,” she remarked.

A board member of Avocados Australia – the group representing avocado growers in the Land Down Under – admitted that a large number of crops were directed to landfills such as the one in Queensland. However, he defended the decision of food farmers to throw away their surplus fruit harvests as it was the only way to secure a profit.

“The cost of putting that stuff in a package – including the labor, the cost of packaging and the cost of transport is just not worthwhile,” he said in response to why farmers did not lower the price to drive up demand. “It doesn’t pay to put the money into packing the fruit or to pay someone the freight costs to send it down to Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne.”

Listen to Health Ranger Mike Adams as he talks about the deliberate destruction of food below.

This video is from the Health Ranger Report channel on Brighteon.com.