A Meon Valley farm shop has announced that it will not be following national purchasing restrictions on fruit and vegetables imposed by some high street supermarkets.
Following national shortages, Asda, Morrisons, Aldi and Tesco have placed purchasing limits on items such as tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers and Environment Secretary, Therese Coffey, has told Parliament that she anticipates the situation will last another two to four weeks.
However, the crisis has not affected Westlands Farm Shop, near Wickham, whose secure supply chains with local growers allows growers to be paid a fair price for their produce.
General manager, Harry King, said: “Our supplies have not been impacted by the shortage currently being experienced by some of the supermarkets. We have seen a slight increase in purchasing of some fruit and veg items – mainly tomatoes – but we can handle that because we are continuing to get deliveries from our suppliers.
“We are very proud of the strong connections we have with suppliers in the area. Those connections mean we can quickly and easily restock in times like these. Local supply chains reduce shipping, storage, emissions and energy usage.”
Some supermarkets and suppliers have said the shortages have been caused largely by bad weather in southern Europe and Africa, but Westlands Farm Shop director, Graham Collett, said: “These shortages have been created by UK supermarkets unfairly blocking their suppliers from passing on inflationary costs and forcing many of them out of business.
“The supermarket chains can do this because of their unfair market share and many of their suppliers have nowhere else to sell. It is interesting that EU stores are full because they allowed prices to reflect increased costs and enabled their suppliers to stay in business.”
