If we had to name Britain’s national vegetable I’d give the title to peas

I can’t think of any other that never needs to be imported, that neighbours our best loved meal – fish and chips – and nourishes us so well. This vegetable also serves another purpose, rarely credited but now very relevant.

It is taken for granted in April that fields are ready for their spring planting. A time of optimism and renewal – or should be. Instead the news channels are filled with gloom for the world’s grain farmers. The impending fuel crisis will have a two-fold effect. The increased cost of diesel alone will reduce annual profits, but many farmers are also reliant on chemical fertiliser, which is produced using oil. Crops such as maize, wheat and soya have lower yields without nitrogen based fertilisers, which are normally cheap and easy to use. These chemical fertilisers have already risen in price by 25 per cent. Farming organisations are predicting doom on a global scale.

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