When it comes to eating 'in season', it appears the British public have very little idea when they can buy certain fresh fruit and vegetables, and what produce is homegrown on U.K. farms, according to a new survey.

Linking Environment and Farming (LEAF) has released the results of its recent survey where around 2,000 people were interviewed in the U.K. about what produce is grown around the country and what to eat seasonally.

It comes just a few days ahead of a nationwide agricultural event in the U.K., Open Farm Sunday, and was conducted to get a snapshot insight into how much the British actually know about their own fruit and vegetables.

Three quarters of the adults surveyed admitted that as a nation the public was generally clueless when it came to seasonality, with a large proportion unaware they could buy British strawberries in the summer months and homegrown Brussels sprouts in December, despite these products traditionally symbolizing two of Britain’s most favored seasonal fresh produce items.

Many consumers also did not know that British farmers grew produce including eggplant (81%), blueberries (63%), sweet corn (62%), iceberg lettuce (37%), cauliflower (29%), carrots (21%) and apples (19%).

With regards to homegrown asparagus, the survey revealed only one in three people realized the season usually ran from April until June with one in 10 people thinking they could buy it all year round.

The survey also showed that the younger generation - those born in the 1990s - were the most naïve of all, demonstrating a clear decline in knowledge compared with older generations.

Some of the younger adults thought the U.K. commercially grew oranges (16%), bananas (8%) and both kiwi fruit and mangoes (5%).

Only one in four of those questioned understood that buying seasonally supported British farmers.

Annabel Shackleton, LEAF’s Open Farm Sunday manager, was shocked by the results.

"Alarmingly there seems to be a decline in knowledge about what U.K. farmers grow and when to buy homegrown produce," she said in a statement sent to www.freshfruitportal.com.

"A number of initiatives are being run in schools to help improve children’s knowledge, but it seems adults could do with some lesson too.

"One in ten people questioned admitted to having been left embarrassed by asking for something that wasn’t in season, but a much greater number than that have a problem understanding seasonality."

She said it was important for people to know which homegrown produce to look for when shopping, given the agriculture industry was worth billions of pounds to the British economy.

Almost 400 farms across England, Scotland and Wales will be opening their gates on June 8 to demonstrate what they grow, how they grow it and where the country’s food comes from in a nationwide celebration of the British agricultural industry and home grown food.

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