Farmers are having to leave fruit to rot because supermarkets are taking in cheaper foreign imports instead.

Fields across Sussex are laden with a bumper crop of plums which are going unpicked.

July's rain generated a glut of the purple fruit but farmers say they cannot sell large quantities because the biggest retailers still want to buy from abroad.

Growers said they had so much fruit they could not sell that much was being left to rot on the trees.

Graham Love, who runs the Greenway Fruit Farm in Hailsham, said: “I have not been able to sell anything to the supermarkets.

“There are two issues, the price of English plums and the supermarkets want to import them cheaper. Because we have had almost a glut this year the farmers have perhaps been holding out for more money.

“The supermarkets want the fruit picked too early. They want less ripe fruit with a longer shelf life, but shoppers have been saying they are tasteless.

“There is so much fruit that we are not going to be able to harvest all our plums.

“We are only going to pick the very best.”

The National Farmers' Union said there were hundreds of tonnes of English plums picked and waiting to go into the shops but despite supermarket claims they were supporting local seasonal food, only small orders were being placed.

Farmers said the traditional British varieties were popular with the public but that unless major supermarkets bought their produce people would not be able to get hold of them.

Dr Chris Hartfield, a horticultural adviser to the NFU, said the low orders for British plums were because retailers were able to purchase fruit from abroad which allowed them a much greater mark-up than on homegrown produce.

Imported plums were being bought at 35p a punnet and sold on for £1, while British plums cost 70p a punnet and were sold in supermarkets for £1, he said.

Mr Love urged Sussex fruit fanatics to buy their fruit locally instead.

He said: “Our plums were picked yesterday and sold today.

“This year's fruit has been wonderful, really good for sloes, damsons, apples and pears as well as plums.

“We must be the only people who welcomed the rain in July, because it made such good fruit.

“Because it has been a good year we should be encouraging people to make jams and if people buy it from local shops and markets instead they can get it at its best.”

Amongst the major supermarkets, Waitrose was singled out for praise for ensuring more than 90% of plums on its shelves were British.

Asda said more than a third of its plums were British-grown Victoria plums.