Unless we look after our farmers, it won't just be strawberries we're doing without

Like many proud Brits I've spent the week watching Wimbledon and enjoying my strawberries and cream.

- Rowan Douglas

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.