Farmers hit out over cheap plum imports after bumper harvest

British farmers celebrating a bumper harvest fear their crop may be left to rot because they are losing out to cheap imports.

Favourable weather conditions in the south-east of England have helped the Garden of England achieve a "vintage" plum crop this year.

But farmers today accused supermarkets of favouring produce from overseas because it provides a higher profit margin.

The National Farmers' Union said farms had hundreds of tonnes of the fruit picked and ready to go into shops.

But despite recent calls from the government for farmers to produce more food and supermarkets claiming to support British seasonal food, some major retailers have put in orders of just single figures of tonnes, the NFU said.

Farmers in Kent described the harvest as a "vintage" crop and spoke of their frustration that the fruit could be left to rot.

They said British plum varieties were popular with the public but unless major supermarkets bought their produce people would not be able to get hold of them.

Waitrose, which has been promoting plums in response to the bumper crop, was singled out for praise for ensuring more than 90 per cent of plums on its shelves were British. Asda, meanwhile, said more than a third of all of the plums sold in its stores were British grown Victoria plums.

A spokesman said: "We are proud to support locally grown produce and we have over 5,000 local lines available, sourced from over 500 UK suppliers."

But one Kent fruit producer, Robert Pascall, said 95 per cent of his Victoria plum crop was still waiting for a customer while other farmers were not bothering to harvest their plums at all because they could not sell them.

Farmers also highlighted the apparent contradiction between their situation and the threat to global food security, campaigns to tackle waste and healthy eating programmes.

Chris Hartfield, horticultural adviser to the NFU, said the low orders for British plums were because retailers were able to purchase fruit from abroad which allowed them a much greater mark-up than on homegrown produce.

Imported plums were being bought at 35p a punnet and sold on for £1, while British plums cost 70p a punnet and were sold in supermarkets for £1, he said.

Earlier this month, Environment Secretary Hilary Benn warned a "radical rethink" of the way the UK produces and consumes food was needed, as a report showed that future global food supplies could be threatened by the impacts of climate change on where crops can grow, increases in the incidence of animal diseases and water shortages.

Across the world, it has been estimated that production will have to rise by 70 per cent by 2050 to feed a global population of nine billion.

Figures from the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs revealed 398,000 tonnes of fruit were produced in the UK in 2007, with 3,561,000 tonnes imported from overseas.

Mr Benn, who has held talks with industry on how to boost production and consumption of fruit and vegetables in the UK, said: "We need a radical rethink of how we produce and consume our food.