Wildlife conservationist Chris Packham calls Britain’s relationship to food “broken” over imported pears

WILDLIFE conservationist Chris Packham has described Britain’s relationship to food as “broken” after spotting imported pears that were grown in Argentina.

The BBC Springwatch presenter took to Twitter to criticise the UK for importing pears from countries thousands of miles away instead of growing our own.

The 60-year-old naturalist made the comments in response to a pot of chopped pears that had travelled over 10,000 miles before arriving in the UK.

The pot of pears were stamped: “Pears grown in Argentina. Packed in Thailand.”

Packham told his 468,000 followers that pears should be grown in British gardens with no chemicals, plastic or processing.

Although international aviation and shipping each account for less than 3.5% of the EU’s total greenhouse gas emissions, they have been the fastest growing sources of emissions that contribute to climate change.

The BBC presenter shared a post on Monday showing the pot of pears that had been grown in Argentina, saying: “It’s broken isn’t it?

“We’ve broken what we do with food? Pears grow in the U.K. 

“They could grow in our gardens. We could walk out and pick them, wipe them and eat them.

“No chemicals, no processing, no plastic, no planes, no sell by dates, Just fresh fruit.

“God help us.” 

Packham’s response has been retweeted 12,000 times and attracted thousands of comments with mixed reactions. 

@frances_cutler said: “Popped into a supermarket yesterday to buy something else but was horrified to see the amount of plastic girdling all the ‘fresh’ produce.

“Thanks to the pandemic, we’ve been buying fruit and veg loose from local greengrocers. Could never go back to vile packaged stuff again.” 

@WellyWilk added: “What numpties are actually buying this stuff?

“I would never buy anything like this. Save your money and the environment and buy a normal home grown pear.” 

@MelHorrocks19 said: “Not everyone has a garden though – how do those in inner cities in tower blocks grow fruit trees!”

@kuriozorinj said: “I mean this is horrendous, but the idea that everyone has access to pear trees, let alone a garden, is a little utopian. Let’s be reasonable.” 

@Kerridge said: “I wonder just what proportion of people living in the UK have a garden to grow a pear tree in?” 

Last year the UK recorded a record-breaking dip in emissions due to Covid-19 restrictions.

However the Climate Change Committee said the drop will have “practically zero impact on the UK’s past and future contribution to global warming”.