Shortage of fruit and vegetables 'a wake-up call' on impact of climate change

The unusual conditions have led to lower agricultural production levels in these countries and made imports to Ireland harder to source.

The managing director of Jackie Leonard and Sons, a wholesale fruit and vegetable supplier in Dublin, said Spain has experienced 16 consecutive nights of sub-zero temperatures.

"As a result, there is just no product available to be harvested," Justin Leonard said. 

"This is a problem that is going to continue for another two-to-three weeks, if not longer."

Future shortages

One of the country’s leading environmental scientists has warned that Ireland should brace itself for more fruit and vegetable shortages in the future because of climate change and biodiversity loss.

Dr Barbara Doyle Prestwich said bare supermarket shelves should be a wake-up call that Ireland cannot take its lofty global food security position for granted.

“There is a lot of evidence emerging in terms of overall climate change leading to extreme weather patterns, and while you cannot just pinpoint one event, what you can see is decades of change coming home to roost," said Dr Doyle Prestwich, who is based at UCC's School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences and Environmental Research Institute.

“The short answer is yes, we can expect to see more extreme weather events and patterns like storms and higher and lower temperatures impact our growing conditions in Ireland and elsewhere. It is an issue, no doubt.” 

Extreme weather events have been creeping up on consumers around the world.

In 2021, a particularly harsh frost in the midst of the Brazilian winter led to a third of the crop in the arabica-producing region being destroyed, leading to soaring coffee prices for ordinary punters.

Food Security Index

At the moment, Ireland is fortunate in relation to its position on the Global Food Security Index but that could all change, Dr Doyle Prestwich warned.

The index measures factors such as affordability, nutritional standards, consumption, and sustainability in determining the security of 113 countries’ food supply. Ireland was second only to Finland in 2022.

Dr Doyle Prestwich said: “We are sitting comfortably at number two at the moment, but that is very much a moveable situation. You see places like Singapore that were once in the top position some years ago but have since dropped way down to 28. It is always a moveable situation in terms of food security.” 

Cold weather followed by an early summer drought in 2018 and the Big Freeze in 2010 should have led to the penny dropping among world leaders, she said.

“Because we are in such a connected world, Ireland could become vulnerable. My argument is that we can never afford to become complacent in Ireland. 

"There is no one way to approach this. We need to ensure we are equipped for these changes as we confront them – biodiversity loss and climate change are major ones. We had a wake-up call in 2018 but for some, it is not resonating as much as it should.”

Energy costs

Mr Leonard, meanwhile, said some growers in Europe are also being impacted by the energy crisis. 

"The Spanish season would generally end around the end of March and the Dutch season would start in early April, coming into May.

"But this year due to the energy crisis the Dutch growers are not heating their glasshouse as early ... It is just simply not viable to do so," he told RTÉ.

"Where the product is available, the quantities required to keep everybody happy are just not there. As a result, we have seen a nearly 300% increase in the cost of basic items like peppers."