Expert says summer was a wake-up call; winter could threaten food supplies

Droughts and wildfires this summer have sounded an alarm, and the prospect of winter flooding could leave Wales' food supply exposed, an expert warned. Wales now imports the overwhelming majority of its fruit and veg, with only 6% of the produce served in schools grown locally.

The warning came from Duncan Fisher, co‑founder of the charity Our Food Trust, which aims to establish 100 farms to grow fruit and veg for Welsh markets. Although about 90% of Welsh land is used for agriculture, just around 0.1% is currently devoted to horticulture. Fisher’s own Wern Farm near Newtown, Powys, says the situation must change if the nation is to cope with climate change, conflict and other supply‑chain shocks.

"We are hugely dependent and these vegetables are coming from really vulnerable parts of the world like south Europe and north Africa - the areas most prone to drought, fires, and overheating," Fisher said. Defence Secretary Wes Streeting said in October that people should keep water, tinned goods, baby food, torches and mobile phone charging packs ready for emergencies. He added that the UK food system is extremely centralised, with 95% of food bought from nine supermarkets, operating on a just‑in‑time basis with no storage, making it a security risk and vulnerable to cyber attacks.

"There's no storage, it's a just-in-time system so the food is stored in lorries moving across motorways. That is a security hazard because it's very vulnerable to cyber attacks. If the system goes wrong, there's no resilience in it.

The food just runs out straight away."