‘Choose turnips instead of tomatoes’ was the plea from former Tory environment secretary Thérèse Coffey as salad supplies dwindled across the UK at the start of last year.

The salad shortages of 2023 - blamed on wet weather in Europe combined with import complications - were a stark post-Brexit reminder of the now somewhat fragile state of our food industry.

But torrential rain in Morocco and our desire to eat salad leaves out of season are far from the only trigger in recent years to temporarily empty supermarket shelves or introduce caps for shoppers to control stockpiling.

In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if snow ‘up north’ and fears of an ‘Arctic blast’ will be just enough to decimate the bread stocks in my corner shop by teatime today?

Meaning therefore, that I hope the government is more than prepared as farmers leave the countryside en masse this week to protest at changes to inheritance tax?

A pandemic, Brexit, the war in Ukraine, soaring energy prices and bird flu have all shown our supply chains - and more importantly the government contingency plans for them - to be somewhat delicate during a crisis these past few years.

Russia’s invasion in 2022 saw a number of supermarkets, including Tesco, Morrisons and Waitrose, restrict the number of bottles of sunflower oil shoppers could buy to ensure there would be enough to go round.

Last February - iceberg lettuce, cucumbers and peppers all fell into the ‘not available’ category of the online shop for many weeks thanks to torrential rain in places like Spain and Morocco and a suggestion that as as result of Brexit, the UK was now some considerable way down the priority list once deliveries resumed. All while pictures circulated social media of European supermarkets brimming with fresh produce.

Then there were the egg shortages last summer as a combination of bird flu and rising energy prices saw record numbers of poultry farmers pause and take stock, which meant egg production almost instantly fell of a cliff and once again - to excuse the pun - cracks began to show.

There also now appear to be growing fears that Spain’s deadly floods, which have also decimated crops, will ultimately cause a ripple effect that’ll eventually reach our supermarkets.

Britain’s retail industry insists retailers are adept at dealing with disruption.

The government is also expected to share new contingency plans should farmers decide to slow or withhold production as winter sets in.

However…‘No farmers, no food’ said the banner strategically placed on the top of a tractor rolling into Downing Street this week.

Can’t argue with that.