Tory cabinet minister Therese Coffey was booed by farmers after she refused to accept that the Britain’s supply chain – hit by widespread food shortages – had seen market failure.
The environment secretary rejected responsibility for the current supermarket rationing of fruit and vegetables, saying: “We can’t control the weather in Spain.”
Ms Coffey clashed National Farmers’ Union (NFU) president Minette Batters on the food supply crisis at the organisation’s conference in Birmingham on Thursday.
Replying to Ms Coffey’s comments about European weather being to blame for crop failure and shortages, Ms Batters said the government should making sure Britain grows more of its own food.
“We can be encouraging these guys to be producing here and I’m conscious that’s something that we really need to hone in on,” said the union leader.
Ms Batters also said there has been a “market failure” when it comes to pork and eggs, as high costs and avian flu caused a shortage of eggs in supermarkets.
Ms Coffey then said: “There is not a market failure Minette”, before the senior Tory minister she was booed by the audience of farmers.
The NFU had previously criticised the government for failing to address agricultural labour shortages after Brexit which saw hundreds of thousands of pigs culled and “thrown away”.
The row comes as supermarkets have warned customers of shortage of tomatoes and other fruit and vegetables, with Asda and Morrisons restricting what their customers can buy.
Bad weather and transport problems in north Africa and parts of Europe have left shelves bare of tomatoes and are hindering the supply of other fresh produce from Spain and elsewhere.
But the Save British Farming group blamed Brexit and the “disastrous” Tory government for the shortages – describing the idea of only the weather in Spain being to blame as “absolute nonsense”.
“The reason that we have food shortages in Britain and that we don’t have food shortages in Spain – or anywhere else in the EU – is because of Brexit, and also because of this disastrous Conservative government that has no interest in food production, farming or even food supply,” said chair Liz Webster.
Empty fruit and veg displays at Asda
The campaigner added: “The Conservatives with their Brexit messed up our trade. This also impacted our labour supply because it ended freedom of movement. It also removed the cap and food subsidies.”
Marion Regan, a berry grower in Kent, said Ms Coffey’s comments shows that she “doesn’t understand” the challenges faced by growers in the UK.
Former Sainsbury’s CEO Justin King acknowledged supply has been affected by poor weather abroad – but told LBC that the food sector also been “hurt horribly by Brexit”.
The NFU president told delegates yesterday that “the clock is ticking” for the government to boost its post-Brexit subsidy scheme and get inflation under control so farmers can produce more reliably.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer also said yesterday that “food security is national security” and that his party would commit to “buying, making and selling more in Britain”.
