A new report by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit shows that farmers are facing their worst harvest on record due to an exceptionally hot and dry summer.
Total production of cereals and oilseeds is forecast to reach 19.5 million tonnes, the lowest harvest since 1984. The potato crop has been affected, with significant reductions seen in wheat and oats, leaving farmers expecting losses from planting and crop maintenance.
Due to the lack of rain, water levels in reservoirs have fallen to historically low levels, whilst restrictions on watering (hosepipe bans) imposed by the authorities are preventing farmers from saving their parched crops. Meanwhile, the grass in the fields has dried out, forcing livestock farmers to start feeding their animals their winter hay reserves already, which will inevitably lead to a feed shortage and rising prices for meat and milk this winter.
Gavin Lane, chairman of the Country Land and Business Association, said that “crops have suffered with virtually no rain, and this is the case across the board. There are parts of the country that will have experienced their worst harvest in living memory.”
According to Clive Bailye, one of the organisers of the protests against Labour’s family farm tax, this year’s weather conditions – particularly the heatwave – have caused the quality of some crops to deteriorate to such an extent that they cannot even be used as animal feed.
“Some of our yields are down by 50% and our best crops are down by 25%. Some farmers’ oats are of such poor quality that they are being rejected and sent to landfill,” he added.
The Conservative Party has called on the new Minister for Agriculture to take measures to support our farmers and to provide urgent assistance with water management, said Robbie Moore, the shadow minister for farming. The minister stressed that the Labour Party “has already overseen huge increases in business costs, never-ending increases in red tape and the dreaded family farm and family business taxes.”
According to an analysis by the ECIU, losses in crop production revenue resulting from extreme weather conditions have exceeded £2 billion over the past decade.
