Sleaford and North Hykeham’s MP has called for more fruit and vegetables to be grown and consumed in the UK to boost people’s ‘five a day’ intake while supporting British farmers.

A farmer’s wife, Dr Caroline Johnson MP was speaking on Tuesday in the House of Commons in a debate on a continuation of direct payments to farmers for the coming year during the transition period after the UK leaves the EU.

In one of several points she made in the hearing of the Bill, she called for subsidy payments for farmers from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to be speedy and also for small farmers to be supported in applying for some of the grants available.

She said: “What has changed is that, 30 years ago, 83 per cent of that fruit and veg was produced in the UK, and now only 54 per cent is grown here. That means that we have a huge capacity to improve the amount of home-grown fruit and veg. In fact, we could grow the sector by 66 per cent overnight if people were to consume their five a day immediately.”

She urged the department to think of the public good of producing extra food as well as producing environmental access improvements linked to grants for farmers and their land. 

“We should think of food production, particularly fruit and veg production, as a great public good for our society, as it would really help to improve the health of our nation.

Urban schools are making more of an effort with their gardens than their rural counterparts, the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) has said, because children in cities are less likely to have green space at home.

For the first time, every category in the RHS School Gardeners of the Year competition was won by an urban school, as teachers planted vegetables in enterprising places such as on the roof and pushing raised beds onto concrete playgrounds.

Alana Cama, Schools and Groups Programme Manager said: “We know that growing crops is the most popular school gardening activity but I was impressed by how these city schools have really embraced it to inspire themselves and others – from getting parents involved to inspiring their peers and incentivising them to push their own boundaries.

“We know that for many young people in towns and cities school gardening clubs are their only touchpoint to nature. Not only do these serve as spaces to learn about the importance of plants for the environment and wildlife but our work with teachers has also shown that it can improve health and wellbeing as well as educational attainment.