The British public could see chips wiped off the menu if unpredictable weather like that seen last summer return to disrupt the UK’s fruit and vegetable yields.
Potato production saw a 20 per cent drop last summer compared to the previous season as a result of heatwaves and drought, the Climate Coalition of environmental and social groups reported.
Campaigners have warned that extreme temperatures driven by climate change, could damage future potato yields and threaten the much-loved British chips.
Future yields of fruit and vegetables produced in the UK, from the humble spud to grapes used to make British wine, are at risk.
Their yields are also be affected by longer-lasting and more intense heatwaves, downpours and flooding in the future.
The summer’s extreme weather – which the Met Office said was made 30 times more likely by climate change – also hit carrots, with growers reporting yields down 25-30 per cent, and onions, which producers said were down 40 per cent.
As well as a drop in potato yields, farmers had problems with smaller and misshapen spuds – leaving the average British chip more than an inch smaller, the report said.
More than half of farmers in the UK say they have been affected by severe flooding or storms in the past decade, with climate change set to bring more record-breaking rainfall.
Some English vineyards reported up to three-quarters of their crop being damaged by the late spring frosts in 2017.
Shoppers could find British-grown potatoes and other fruit and vegetables harder to come by in the future as a result of the changing climate, the report warned.
Lee Abbey, from the National Farmers Union, which recently announced it wanted UK farming to become net zero in its greenhouse gas emissions by 2040, said: ‘A lot of growers will have come out of this year with sore heads and not much income.
‘Farmers and growers are used to dealing with fluctuations in the weather but if we have two or three extreme years in a row it has the potential to put growers out of business.’
By the 2050s, climate projections suggest the amount of land that is currently well-suited for potatoes could decline by three-quarters, the report said.
The report is part of Climate Coalition’s ‘show the love’ campaign which celebrates things that could be lost if global warming is not tackled.
The coalition, made up of 130 organisations ranging from WWF, the Women’s Institute, RSPB and National Trust, to aid agencies such as Christian Aid and Cafod, is calling for cuts to the emissions driving up temperatures.
Gareth Redmond-King, from WWF, said: ‘It should be unthinkable to us that the humble spud, a much-loved staple of the British diet, could become a delicacy.
‘But the unthinkable becomes reality if climate change isn’t tackled.
‘To be able to enjoy our mash, chips or jackets for years to come, we need to take measures to tackle climate change urgently.’