Chips are getting shorter and it's because of climate change - report claims
Last summer’s heatwave has cut around an inch off the average chip, according to a new report.
The startling claim is contained in Recipe for Disaster, a report released by the Climate Change Coalition – a group made up of 130 organisations including WWF, National Trust, RSPB, Christian Aid, CAFOD, The Women’s Institute, and Oxfam.
The report claims climate extremes of the past few years—including the snowfall and freezing
temperatures of February and March 2018 and one of the driest June months in England and Wales since 1910 have been devastating for UK fruit and vegetable farmers.
Apple growers lost around 25% of their harvest in 2017 due to unexpectedly late frosts, carrot yields are reportedly 25% lower than a normal year, and onion crops down 40% last year – all due to climate change.
Potato farmers have reported yields down an average of 20% on average, making it the fourth smallest harvest since 1960 and to the consumer the lack of water in 2018, combined with the heat, will take around one inch off the size of an average chip.
More than half of all farms in the UK say they have been affected by a severe climatic event, such as flooding or a storm in the past 10 years – placing pressure on supplies of British grown fruit and vegetables.
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, who backs the report, said: “The Climate Coalition shows, UK farmers are already struggling to cope with the increasing frequency of extreme and unpredictable weather, with
late frosts, droughts and heavy rainfall having a serious—sometimes devastating – impact on crops.
“If we are to protect our fantastic British fruit and veg for future generations, then the food industry and our Government have got to step up and make the kind of major changes —reducing emissions,
cutting waste, supporting green energy, for example that will have a profound effect.
“This is how we’ll ensure that the delicious, healthy, homegrown produce we enjoy today is still available for our children and grandchildren. The alternative doesn’t bear thinking about.”
During the past decade average annual rainfall across the UK was 6% higher than from 1961 to 1990, and average winter rainfall is estimated to increase by up to 40% by the 2040s.
Along with the increasingly erratic seasons – best embodied by last year’s Beast from the East – have longterm effects on growers.
Last year, the report claims, some farmers were not planting their potato crops until May due to poor weather, when ordinarily they would be planted in April or late March – leading to a reduced yield and a smaller crop.
Lee Abbey, head of horticulture at the National Farmers’ Union (NFU), said: “A lot of growers will have come out of this year with sore heads and not much income.
“Farmers and growers are used to dealing with fluctuations in the weather but if we have two or three extreme years in a row it has the potential to put growers out of business.”
