World News for Students of English

06-04-2022 15:00

The cost of growing cucumber climbs in the UK due to soaring energy prices.

For three generations, Tony Montalbano’s family has farmed cucumbers in the southeast of England, and he’s supplied major supermarkets. However, 30,000 square meters of the company’s greenhouses are empty. They would normally be full of fully grown plants.

The rising cost of energy has stopped the company from using heat to grow the plants. Montalbano decided not to plant the first of the year’s three cycles in January, hoping that gas prices would drop. However, that didn’t happen, and gas costs much more than last year.

Last year, it cost about 25 pence to grow a cucumber in the UK. The price has doubled, and it could cost 70 pence when energy prices rise. The cost of fertilizer and labor has also soared, and farmers have not planted peppers, tomatoes, and other plants.

Difficult words: soar (to increase very quickly), cycle (events or actions that repeat regularly), fertilizer (a substance that farmers add to soil to make plants grow better).

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