RESPONSES BY BRITISH TOMATO GROWERS TO THE ENERGY CRISIS IN 1975

To set the scene for this paper it may be helpful to pick out the main themes in the debate which has been stimulated by this situation. The glasshouse industry generally claims to have been misled concerning the renewal of the short-term oil subsidy provided by the government in 1974. Growers have been embittered by the refusal of further aid, when other causes of perhaps greater political appeal seem (to them) to have been judged by more favourable criteria. Growers' leaders have thus pressed for renewed support from the government, and for parity with their E.E.C. competitors regarding oil prices.

In various ways, the industry is trying more vigorously than one can previously recall to pass recent cost increases on to the consumer. In attempting this, growers have to supply a market notoriously sensitive to weather influences on supply and demand. The buying public largely is apathetic or ignorant of growers' affairs. And there is a growing wave of consumerism in the United Kingdom, which has given the tomato trade some chilling publicity.

Rather less is heard, of course, about any effective protection in the market resulting from changes in the relative value of European currencies; or of the 'disastrous consequences' once associated with losing the U.K. tariff on imported tomatoes; or whether growers' organised efforts to 'talk up' the level of realised prices are socially responsible at this time of inflation.

Since the upturn in oil prices, it should also be mentioned that there have been long and involved technical discussions. Various spokesmen have recommended means of reducing heating costs and using heat more efficiently. There has been a plethora of recommendations on such matters as sowing dates, cultivars and temperature regimes. But so far there has also been a striking consensus that growers should not alter their timing of crops, or change

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