Sainsbury’s is to increase supplies of British tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers amid fears of drought affecting crops imported from abroad.
The UK’s second biggest supermarket has signed new 10-year partnerships with UK producers Evesham Vale Growers and Thanet Earth to ensure it can keep a steady supply of tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers on its shelves.
The produce has been badly affected by weather-based shocks in the past.
In early 2023, supermarkets imposed limits of three on packs of tomatoes, as well as cucumbers, peppers, lettuce, salad bags and some vegetables after a combination of bad weather and related transport problems in north Africa and Europe led to widespread shortages on UK shelves.
Sainsbury’s said British-grown tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers were already an important part of its salad offer to customers, but extreme weather across warmer growing regions had underlined the need for supermarkets to think differently about how they build more resilient supply chains.
The grocer said it hoped its long-term agreement with Thanet Earth would extend availability of British cucumbers beyond the summer season into the winter months for the first time, after traditionally relying more heavily on imports.
The new British winter crop will be grown at Thanet Earth in Kent, the UK’s largest single site glasshouse complex, where supplementary lighting, heat, and CO2 are managed to create the conditions cucumber plants need to keep growing through the darkest months of the year.
Benefits of the agreements would be seen on shelves as early as this summer with the launch of the new Taste the Difference British Salad Selection 800g box.
Hannah O’Reilly, category director of produce at Sainsbury’s, said: “With our changing weather, it’s more important than ever to find new, innovative solutions to make sure our customers can continue to enjoy the quality produce they want all year-round.
“Investing in more British production and supporting our suppliers to innovate is helping us build a stronger, more resilient supply chain in a category that has been impacted by weather-based shocks in recent years.
“By giving our brilliant British growers the certainty to invest and innovate through long-term contracts such as these with Thanet Earth and Evesham Vale Growers will help us to continue to support British farming for years to come.”
Rob James, technical director at Thanet Earth, said: “Working with Sainsbury’s in this way means we can plan ahead with more certainty and keep pushing what’s possible for British growing.
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“A good example is our investment in the technology needed to grow cucumbers through the winter, creating the right conditions for the crop and helping bring more British-grown produce to customers at a time of year when that has not previously been possible.”