A couple who started farming with just one cow and £100 are urging shoppers to ditch 'greedy' supermarkets and buy from traditional greengrocers instead.
Shelves in supermarkets have been emptying for weeks due to a shortage of staples like tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuces.
Some supermarket giants, who say the problems have been caused by the unusually cold weather in Spain and Morocco, have even been rationing the number of items customers can buy to help combat the shortages.
But British farmers Francesca and Mick Russell argue that there is no shortage of fresh produce being grown and blame the retailers for refusing to budge on price.
The couple, who have run Old Oak Farm in Neston, Cheshire, for 13 years, are now urging people to ditch shopping at supermarkets and instead buy fresh fruit and veg from local shops.
Francesca, 42, said: "You can't just pinpoint one thing for the vegetable crisis, it happens a lot.
"The government isn't helping things with price increases. They're not helping things for farmers.
"There are no British growers and there's not enough support for British growers.
"The lack of pickers, the lack of lovely weather, the money to heat greenhouses. Spain has been cold, and Africa has been cold, it's all different factors.
"The supermarkets set the prices. Abroad the prices are flexible, over here the prices are fixed.
"I saw a supermarket selling bags of carrots for 35p when we were on our knees. We couldn't grow them for that.
"The only way for a lot of farmers not to lose money is to not plant certain things in the first place.
"Most farmers keep having to play along with the supermarket to pay the bank back."
The mum-of-two encourages shoppers to use their local greengrocer and farm shops instead, arguing the quality is much better.
But she fears for the future of farming.
"Farm shops aren't more expensive necessarily, the other day our broccoli was cheaper than Aldi per kilo," she said.
"It's so important to seek out your local farm shop and help your local people.
"We get up at the crack of dawn to do this. Everything we buy is class one to make sure it all tastes lovely.
"We get our honey from our friend. We buy coffee that has been locally blended, I know coffee itself isn't locally sourced.
"We grow loads of things. I had turnips in over the weekend when you couldn't lay your hands on any in the supermarkets.
"We sell out of our eggs every day, we sell out of beef when we have it. We get what we need.
"Supermarkets need to look after the farmers. It feels like this country is trying to get rid of British farming.
"It's so scary because what if we have to import everything."
Her husband Mick also thinks consumers need to change their shopping habits to support local producers.
They're first-generation farmers who started out with a little pocket of land and £100 spare to start growing produce and rearing animals.
"We bought some cows and then went from there. It's been going on baby steps," the 40-year-old explained.
"If you shop locally you support more than one person - we have that many local people who supply us.
"In season we will have 40 local products, apart from bananas and avocados, it's all from as close as we can get to our door."
He has noticed an increase in demand from his farm in recent times since lockdown - when there were also shortages.
"I've noticed I'm getting text messages from people saying can you save me tomatoes etcetera," he said.
"There's definitely been more footfall, it's been on fire for the last month.
"The customers are always so lovely, it's been a really gift. It's not about the money, it's about the job.
"I read somewhere that when you shop locally, 75 per cent goes back into the economy.
"Supermarkets were told last year the prices were going to increase and they essentially said 'we're not going to pay it'.
"There's a lot of veg out there, but the British supermarkets refuse to pay more than the contracted price which is why we can still get hold of stuff and they can't.
"If we want it we have to pay more for it, but the supermarkets refuse to do that. That's the supermarket's problem.
"If we can get hold of the tomatoes, they can. They are not willing to pay the extra price."
The Mirror has approached Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's, Morrisons and the British Retail Consortium (BRC) to see if they wish to respond.
Andrew Opie, director of food and sustainability at the BRC, said: "Retailers have long established relationships with the farmers in the UK and beyond, and they understand they need to pay a sustainable price for these goods.
"During winter, retailers source much of their summer produce, like tomatoes and lettuces, from countries like Spain and Morocco, where the good weather allows them to grow all year round without the added cost of heating greenhouses.
"This, in turn, allows supermarkets to offer their customers the best value for money at a time when the cost of living has risen sharply."
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