I’m sure many of you will be wondering how Brexit and the COVID pandemic will affect your fruit and veg supplies over the coming months. It’s true there have been some issues, but luckily they affect us less than supermarkets. We grow a lot ourselves and this will make us very resilient during the summer months when most of our veg is ready for harvest. Unfortunately Brexit and this lockdown coincide with the beginning of the hungry gap, when there is less in our fields, (and less from any UK farm!). We mostly source directly from UK growers, so we are insulated from transport delays and competition at the wholesale market.
However, we do rely on imports of fruit and occasionally vegetables from Europe.
Over the last two weeks we’ve had some issues with imported produce due to the implications of the deal with the EU and the significant disruption at the ports. Also availability is unreliable because of the unexpectedly cold weather in Europe. All of this is causing prices to fluctuate as well as last minute amendments of our VegBox contents.
Of course, the spiralling COVID situation is another cause for concern and may start to seriously affect staffing at the farms, hauliers, and wholesalers. The increased demand for fresh food deliveries means we find we have less flexibility in the quantities and varieties of fruit and vegetables we buy.
At our farm we are taking all necessary measures to keep our staff and volunteers safe. We are expecting a challenging few months but as always we are doing our best to provide you with your weekly VegBox, make sure all your dislikes are replaced with something that you like and keep the variety in our veg shop. If any last minute changes to bag contents or deliveries occur please bear with us. Thank you for being flexible and understanding, and thank you for supporting local food!