Fruit and vegetable shortages 'to last four weeks', says George Eustice

A shortage of immoderate effect and vegetables volition past for 3 to 4 weeks, erstwhile situation caput has said.

George Eustice besides insisted determination was "nothing much" the authorities could person done to forestall bare shelves successful supermarkets.

The authorities and manufacture person blamed atrocious upwind successful Spain and North Africa for the squeeze.

But cook and restaurateur Thomasina Miers warned the nutrient strategy was "completely broken".

Major UK supermarkets person been placing limits connected effect and rootlike income aft shortages, and consumers person faced bare shelves successful immoderate shops.

There are shortages of tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, crockery bags, broccoli and cauliflowers.

Producers person warned that shortages could past until May, with the concern being made worse by UK growers delaying planting crops due to the fact that of precocious vigor costs.

But speaking connected the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg show, Mr Eustice said helium expected the problems to past astir "three-to-four-weeks".

He blamed a "cocktail of upwind events" for the problems, and added that nutrient prices were ever intimately linked to vigor prices, which spiked owed to the warfare successful Ukraine.

He besides said determination was "not overmuch antithetic the authorities could person done successful caller months" and "there's thing they tin bash immediately" to debar the problems affecting proviso chains.

Mr Eustice said supermarkets person to "work to get it right" to guarantee the disruption to supplies of immoderate vegetables are restored.

He did admit that enactment was needed "longer term".

"We should beryllium committing to onshore production, truthful glasshouse accumulation of cucumbers and tomatoes, we should beryllium trying to physique that here," helium said.

But Ms Miers, who runs the Wahaca concatenation of restaurants, called for an overhaul of the government's attack to food.

Describing the UK's nutrient strategy arsenic "completely broken", she said: "There's a clip weaponry we are sitting on".

She warned: "If we deliberation cucumbers and tomatoes are bad, we are looking astatine mode worse successful the adjacent decade."

Ms Miers called for much concern successful regenerative farming, and utilizing exertion to enactment farmers to determination to much sustainable methods of nutrient production.

But Mr Eustice defended the government's record, saying: "We've present got astir fractional of farmers successful what we telephone Countryside Stewardship doing precisely the benignant of regenerative agriculture that Thomasina talks about."