Try GOLD - Free
Unless we look after our farmers, it won't just be strawberries we're doing without
The Observer
|July 06, 2025
Like many proud Brits I've spent the week watching Wimbledon and enjoying my strawberries and cream.
But in a few years' time, seasonal British strawberries could become a thing of the past. I'm an urban-dwelling insurance expert and I've an urgent message about our food supply, the financial security of our rural economies and our farmers' wellbeing. The average age of a British farmer is nearly 60. Unless we share the risks more fairly between producers and consumers, we could run out of farmers before we run out of food.
How can I be so sure? I recently coauthored a report published by the European Commission and European Investment Bank with insurance group Howden. Titled rather unglamorously Insurance and Risk Management Tools for Agriculture in the EU, this was the first EU-wide financial evaluation of the impact of climate risks to current and future crop yields. The reality we documented is shocking.
This story is from the July 06, 2025 edition of The Observer.
Subscribe to Magzter GOLD to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
MORE STORIES FROM The Observer
The Observer
Battle to become the global leader in defence tech gets heated
In a world riven by conflict, Germany's Helsing and US-based Anduril are piling on value as order books bulge.
4 mins
September 14, 2025
The Observer
The lion
We lions are philosophers. We get a lot of time for thinking; it’s in our nature.
2 mins
September 14, 2025
The Observer
How Syria's stolen children were used to break the hearts and minds of their parents
A campaign of child abduction carried out in collusion with a western charity was used by the Assad regime as a weapon of war against the families that opposed him.
13 mins
September 14, 2025
The Observer
Britain can become one of the world's top tech economies - if it takes the risks
It's time to change the subject. A programme of mass deportations and leaving the European Convention on Human Rights is not going to deliver either growth or prosperity.
9 mins
September 14, 2025
The Observer
Misinformation and myth: the UK's phoney war over human rights
The debate over the future of the European Convention on Human Rights will shape conference season and beyond, writes political editor Rachel Sylvester
6 mins
September 14, 2025
The Observer
Assassination of Charlie Kirk strips Maga of the man who brought the youth vote to Trump
The first family mourns the White House insider whose extremist views reflected the Republican party's major shift to the right
5 mins
September 14, 2025
The Observer
Mandelson saga and Epstein links cast shadow over Trump's UK trip
When Donald Trump touches down on UK soil in Air Force One on Tuesday, a two-day period of peril for the US president and British prime minister Keir Starmer will begin.
3 mins
September 14, 2025
The Observer
The UN must get back in the ring and fight Mark Malloch-Brown
A recent Reuters headline noted: “UN report finds United Nations reports are not widely read”.
5 mins
September 14, 2025
The Observer
Prepare for revolution now, Elon Musk tells London rally as police come under attack
US tech billionaire calls for downfall of Labour government in speech to 110,000 marchers at Robinson's Unite the Kingdom protest
4 mins
September 14, 2025
The Observer
Big pharma's cash pull-out lands blow on UK economy
Slowly, then all at once. That's how the government's “vision” for life sciences came to the brink of disaster in the space of a week.
1 min
September 14, 2025
Listen
Translate
Change font size