Droughts and wildfires this summer were a wake-up call, and winter flooding could leave Wales's food supply vulnerable, a grower has warned, the BBC reported. The country imports the vast majority of its fruit and vegetables, with only 6 percent of those served in its schools grown in Wales. Duncan Fisher, co-founder of Our Food Trust, which wants to build 100 farms producing fruit and vegetables in Wales for local markets, said the country is "hugely dependent" on produce from southern Europe and North Africa, "the areas most prone to drought, fires and overheating."

Fisher also pointed to a highly centralized U.K. food system. He said 95 percent of the food people eat is bought from nine supermarkets, with little storage and a just-in-time model in which food "is stored in lorries moving across motorways." "That is a security hazard because it's very vulnerable to cyber-attacks," he said. "If the system goes wrong, there's no resilience in it. The food just runs out straight away." He referenced an October appeal by Defence Secretary Wes Streeting, who said people should have water, tinned goods, baby food, torches, and phone-charging packs ready in case of emergency.

Fisher and Sue Holbrook launched Our Food Trust about 10 years ago. They found that stable housing for farmers was a main barrier, because growers need to live on the land to protect crops from wind or animals. Planning rules have made it hard to build homes on farmland, Fisher said. Working with Powys council and Bannau Brycheiniog National Park Authority, they have built three temporary homes for farmers on 36 acres of council-owned land and are building three more. Lydia Dibben, 28, a grower at Wern Farm near Newtown, said that if her home were not provided she would have to get another job to afford rent and would not have enough time to farm. She is growing on just over an acre this year, packing 50 vegetable boxes a week, and had been doing four farmers' markets a month into October, as well as supplying wholesale.

Dibben called the past summer the hardest in her five years of growing. She said she was in the field at 5 a.m. and had to stop by 11 a.m., or even earlier, when it became too hot, with polytunnels unusable by 9 a.m. She went back out around 5 p.m. and worked until midnight to water. "Everything was slower and stunted," she said. The Welsh government said "significant progress" had been made on a national food strategy and that it had begun mapping the fruit and vegetable sector. The U.K. Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said it was "slashing planning red tape and investing £200m to help farmers trial crop boosting technology," and that "the prime minister has made clear that food security is national security." Fisher's 6 percent figure and Dibben's summer hours are the concrete record. The government replies are plans and spending pledges, not a claim that Wales already grows what it eats.