British cucumbers 'will go extinct' amid supermarket price wars, warn farmers

It's the wost its been for 100 years

Production of cucumbers has dropped to about 100 hectares for the first time in nearly a century (Joern Pollex/Getty)

British cucumbers may go "extinct" as farmers struggle to make a profit on the vegetable amid supermarket cost-cutting, growers have said.

Fewer than 100 hectares are now growing cucumbers for the first time in nearly a century, according to the Cucumber Growers Association.

Major farmers in the field have either retired, closed their businesses or changed to more lucrative crops, The Guardian has reported.

The drop in cucumber prices is partly the result of major supermarkets Morrisons, Tesco, Asda and Sainsbury's battling to match price-slashing competitors Aldi and Lidl.

Cheaper imports from the Netherlands are also to blame, according to The Guardian.

The CGA told a National Farmers' Union report into the issue that there was little incentive for growers.

"Nobody in the supply chain is making anything from the production and sale of cucumbers. Without an increase in returns the British cucumber industry won't be endangered - it will be extinct."

The average price paid to sellers for the popular salad staple has dropped to 28p a stick, having sold for 6p more on average five years ago, Derek Hargreaves, technical officer of the CGA, told The Guardian.

Production costs hover around 20p - except for in summer when they drop to 16p - meaning the profit margin for farmers is tight.

Last year Tesco slashed their price for cucumber from 65p to 49p. The move was echoed by Asda, whose chief executive Andy Clarke said the slash triggered a 75% surge in cucumber sales.

Aldi and Lidl have gone yet further, charging customers just 39p and 29p this week.

A leading farmer who once sold four million cucumbers a year has retired and another has turned to medicinal cannabis instead, The Guardian reported.

Joe Cappalonga, who heads fruit and vegetable wholesaler G&C Produce, told The Guardian:

"I'm the third generation but I can't envisage a fourth generation the way things are going."