The future of the British berry industry is hanging in the balance despite the UK sector hitting record milestones, British Berry Growers has warned.
Rising energy costs, wage increases, and a lack of fair retailer returns continued to create challenging circumstances for fruit farmers in 2025, the latest data from the industry body revealed.
The findings of the latest research, based on a survey of member growers and one-to-one consultations with producers, comes despite the British berry sector reaching a total market value of £2bn for the first time.
The sector was having an outsized effect on the UK economy, adding £624m in 2023, contributing £134m in taxes and supporting 16,317 FTE jobs, an EY report commissioned by BBG revealed.
However, it found the rate at which the industry had grown had significantly decelerated in recent years, with the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in the volume of berry sales dropping from 7.8% between 2012 and 2019 to just 1.3% between 2019 and 2023.
This was partly due to rising energy costs – 71% of growers surveyed in the EY report experienced operating cost increases in excess of 20% between 2020 and 2023.
Meanwhile, revenue returns were not keeping pace with the operating cost increases for 85% of growers, the report found.
Other challenges cited included the national minimum and living wage rate rises and a lack of fair returns from retailers. The average price of berries rose by 14.5% between 2020 and 2023, but the average price paid to growers by retailers only increased by 11.2% in the same period, which BBG claimed was not enough to help cover non-wage operating cost increases of 37% on average.
Nick Marston, British Berry Growers chairman, warned the risks “threaten the industry’s future”.
“In particular, it’s clear that retailers have a significant role to play in the industry’s recovery,” he said.
“Without their support, growers will struggle to expand production and meet the ever-growing demand for fresh British berries. This would be a tragedy when the ongoing growth of the overall retail market gives a huge opportunity to increase our UK home production and self-sufficiency.”
The findings also showed British growers were competing with more berries being imported from other markets.
Despite the overall market growth for British and imported berries in the UK, the share of British berries shrank by 2.5% while the volume of imported berries increased by 15.1%.
“As we start 2025, it is clear collaborative action is essential to ensure the survival and continued growth of the British berry industry,” added Marston.
“Retailers, policymakers, and industry stakeholders must come together to support British growers, through fairer pricing and extended access to a seasonal workforce, to ensure the future of one of the UK’s most important agricultural sectors.”
The body’s report comes just six months after BBG published data showing two-fifths of British berry growers were at risk of going out of business by 2026.
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