Increasing Resilience of the UK Fresh Fruit and Vegetable System to Water-Related Risks

Monika Zurek,Theresa Lieb,Tim Hess,George Garbutt,John Ingram

doi:10.3390/su12187519

Monika Zurek, Theresa Lieb + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/su12187519

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Abstract

The many economic, regulatory and environmental pressures on growing, processing, distributing and retailing UK-produced fresh fruit and vegetables (FF&V) are managed by a complex set of actors before reaching the consumer. Much of this production takes place in the driest parts of the country which are characterised as “water scarce”. While physical risk is a key component of water-related risks to growers, different actors in the system face other types of risk, such as supply chain risks, food safety risks, reputational risks and/or regulatory risks. In this paper we reveal how different types of actors in the UK FF&V system perceive and frame water-related risks, what risk management strategies they employ and how they envision a FF&V system more resilient to water-related risks. Using interviews with actors from across the system, as well as governmental and nongovernmental actors influencing the system, we unpack the complex nature of the FF&V system. This provides insights into the different ways system actors assemble around water-risk and highlights that, if resilience-building activities at the individual actor level are not coordinated, there is a high risk that they are undermining overall system resilience.

Highlights

Enhancing resilience to water-related risk is already a key issue for the UK’s fresh fruit and vegetable (FF&V) system
This paper aims to reveal the different framings that the UK’s FF&V system actors use for water risk and the risk mitigation measures they employ to enhance resilience
Understanding the structure of the FF&V system in the UK and how the different FF&V actors in the UK perceive water risks was based on interviewing actors across the FF&V system from producers to retailers. (An analysis of how consumers influence and interact with water-related risk and resilience of the UK’s FF&V System was beyond the scope of this study.) Interviews were conducted in two stages: Stage 1 was a scoping exercise to inform the design of the structured interview process in Stage 2

Summary

Introduction

Enhancing resilience to water-related risk is already a key issue for the UK’s fresh fruit and vegetable (FF&V) system. This is because most production in the UK takes place in the driest parts of the country, where water resources are most stressed, and imports are from countries which are characterised as “water scarce” [1]. The demand for FF&V, and the water required to produce it, is likely to rise due to consumers being urged to increase their FF&V intake in general, while substituting meat and dairy products with plant-based foods, for health and environmental reasons [3,4]. It is important to consider how to increase the resilience of the FF&V system to stresses and shocks, be they social, economic, political, technical and/or environmental

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