Following calls for aid from Kent plum growers, who are furious at the poorly representation of English plums in major supermarkets, which has left many growers unable to sell their crop and led some to dumping their produce or leaving it to rot on the tree, The National Farmers’ Union (NFU) has pledged to investigate the situation.  image expired

The situation can be likened to the soft fruit crisis affecting farmers in Southern France, who claim that cut-price produce from Spanish farmers attempting to recoup losses from the E.coli crisis earlier in the year has brought prices for soft fruit and tomatoes well below the cost of production, jeopardising their livelihoods.

One plum grower, Nigel Bardsley, told the BBC yesterday that supermarkets had ceased to deal with him because they could get imported plums 20p cheaper per punnet. Mr Bardsley represents fruit growers in the South East with the NFU. He said, "Imported produce is being dumped on our market and sold at less than the cost of production."  He said some growers had told him they were considering grubbing up their plum trees.

A spokesperson for NFU South East said, "The English plum season started early this year, owing to the warm weather. But the Victoria plum, the nation’s favourite dessert and culinary plum, which should be widely available now, is very hard to find on supermarket shelves. The NFU wants to know why this is the case when we know that consumers really want to buy English plums and country of origin is a driver of consumer choice."

NFU head of food chain Lee Woodger said, "The UK has seen a bumper crop this year and supplies of British plums are plentiful. However, it seems that a large proportion of plums on supermarket shelves are imported."
He said retailers should work with UK growers to ensure that the industry remains sustainable and able to maintain a secure supply of plums, which are produced to higher environmental and food safety standards.

Mr Woodger concluded, "Consumers continually express a desire to purchase more local British produce. The NFU urges retailers to meet this demand by being more flexible and stocking as many British plums as possible. Growers who have excess stock may want to make enquiries about selling them into London’s wholesale markets through the Greater London Authority Business Development Manager programme operated by the NFU."