Where have all the exotic fruits gone?

I read somewhere that it is not economically viable to stock some foreign produce due to political instability, e.g., war, increased transportation costs (shipping routes disrupted) and tariffs.

I like sweet potatoes, but some of them are from South America and they are transported into the US and have been treated with something that used to be illegal in the UK because it was considered harmful, before Brexit.

M&S has stopped listing the country of origin on much of its pre packed fresh foods such as meat, unless it is from Ireland. Sometimes it will say packed in the UK, which means nothing—it could have come from deepest Peru and been twice round the world. Much ‘fresh’ meat and poultry has been frozen and thawed (visible in the smallest writing on the back of the pack). Food standards have declined! I can source most of my fresh food from Ireland, north and south, but it is time consuming.

We're lucky to have an excellent butchers down the road for the rare occasion I need meat, they have a board where the names of the farms the meat came from are posted, so it's all local, apart from the pork and poultry, but those farms are named too.

I wonder if another reason why so much produce has become unavaible or more expensive is because of wild fires destroying crops?

TheCatWoman said:

I wonder if another reason why so much produce has become unavaible or more expensive is because of wild fires destroying crops?

Yes, I would think that is likely, and farmers are diversifying due to other climate change challenges such as flooding.

Long may local independent fresh food suppliers continue! It’s not practical for me to source all my fresh foods from local independent suppliers because I would be running all over the place. I get lamb occasionally from a local butcher and most of my fresh veg comes from a local farm shop. The quality and flavour is superior.

I wouldn't know as I'm veggie and never have been a fan of lamb, it upsets my tummy, no matter how it's cooked.

I don't think I've ever seen a jackfruit thats not in a tin and even ones in tins have got expensive and harder to get hold of.

We actually have fairly good soil on much of the island, although some of it is thin and rocky and only really good for pasture.

You're right about salinity although it depends on which part of the island your are, we used to be the bread basket of North Wales and there did used to be much more grown here. Lots of land got turned into sheep pasture, I know the Scots like to think the Clearances only happened to them, but they happened here too and in England. I think in recent years it's more likely to be short summer seasons that hamper growing some crops

Iain said:

I just had a recallection of that very lesson in geography from school

As an aside, I wish we'd had a geography teacher like that! I don't know how mine managed to make the subject so boring and irrelevant to real life. The food chain would have been so much more interesting and relevant. 

Iain said:

I just had a recallection of that very lesson in geography from school

As an aside, I wish we'd had a geography teacher like that! I don't know how mine managed to make the subject so boring and irrelevant to real life. The food chain would have been so much more interesting and relevant.