Millions of heads of lettuce ruined by aphid outbreak

Millions of lettuces are set to be wasted as farmers are grappling with a record outbreak of aphids that has devastated the end of their growing season.

Growers are facing losses of £10m, as 30 million heads of lettuce will be rendered unusable, according to the British Leafy Salads Association (BLSA).

The organisation says that warm and dry weather has produced "ideal conditions" for the bugs, with as much as 30% of the UK crop between now and the end of October set to be wasted.

Homegrown lettuce dominates the market in the summer and early autumn weeks before a transition that sees more imports filling shop shelves.

But imported lettuces are now likely to be on the shelves in the UK a couple of weeks earlier than usual.

Farms in many parts of England - the Midlands, East Anglia, the south-east, south and north-west - have been impacted by the outbreak.

Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live, BLSA spokesman Dieter Lloyd described the issue as "serious", while not affecting all of the UK crop.

He said people have been eating salads from UK products "all summer" but added: "The issue though is serious, the aphids bloom in June and again in August/September."

"What we're talking about here is the loss of the crop over the course of the last couple of weeks and the couple of weeks ahead."

He said that "this is not all of the heads in the UK, but it's a significant percentage of it" and producers are "looking at not using 30 million heads of lettuce at the cost of £10m to the growers".

Over the course of the season, UK growers produce around half a billion heads of lettuce.

Asked if weather is a factor that has contributed to the issues, Lloyd said that short-term weather patterns and regional variations do have an impact.

"We had a problem with aphids last year, we've had a mild winter which traditionally might affect the aphid populations and then they do like warm weather."

The National Farmers' Union said that they are looking to support growers and researchers amid the outbreak.

Martin Emmett, the organisation's horticulture chairman, said: "This summer's warm and dry weather created a number of challenges for growers and the effects are still being felt, with rising levels of pests and disease now adding further pressure to farming businesses following an already difficult period.

"While growers are working hard to tackle record high numbers of aphids, the NFU is supporting the work of grower groups, plant breeders and researchers."