Keep Calm and Grow Your Own
21.08.2023 - 11:51
/ theunconventionalgardener.com
/ Emma Doughty
The news for the past few weeks has been a little worrying (when is it not?), in the sense that although Brexit is only 7 months away, no one seems to have the foggiest what will happen when we leave the EU. All kinds of industries are predicting chaos. People in the government have said that the government is making plans to stockpile food, and the public don’t need to worry. However, with ‘just in time’ food supply lines that leave us nine meals away from anarchy, perhaps a little concern is in order. We’ve recently lived through a hummus shortage (due to production issues), a crumpet/fizzy drinks shortage (ditto) and salad shortages (weather issues), and that’s just the ones I (a) noticed and (b) can remember.
Nearly a third of our food comes from the EU, and if we were to rely on homegrown food supplies, the National Farmers Union says they would run out in August. It’s August now – do you fancy surviving on emergency rations until the new year? Me either. Apparently the government has neither the cash reserves, nor the storage space, to stockpile food, and it’s suggested that concerned citizens might like to put together their own stash. (The Swedish version sounds much tastier than the Swiss one, IMHO.)
Now, that’s the doomsday scenario and this may all turn itself around and turn storm in a tea cup (people compare Brexit to Y2K, but the reason the millennium bug didn’t cause chaos was because lots of people spent years fixing it). On the other hand, people fortunate enough to have spare cash and a bit of storage space might like to stock up on long-lived supplies that they use regularly, just to tide them over any awkward transition period. I suspect that what will happen is that foods from the EU will be more
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