Can Britain still feed itself

A British supermarket is one of the most convincing illusions in modern life. Strawberries appear in winter. Avocados survive political crises. Twenty varieties of tomato sit under bright lights looking as though nature has finally accepted a service-level agreement.

The achievement is real. Britain is supplied by farmers, growers, processors, hauliers, ports, warehouses and retailers operating across a vast international network. Most days it works so smoothly that food security sounds like an issue for history books or distant countries. Then a drought lasts longer than expected, a shipping route closes, fertiliser prices rise, a harvest fails and the system becomes visible because something familiar has vanished from the shelf or doubled in price.