Food & Climate
While summer finally comes in UK, as the temperature across the country is set to soar with highs of 32 degrees in some places, the farmers are still suffering from a mostly wet and cool weather.
It follows a soggy first seven months of the year so far, which has seen rain blamed for dampening economic performance and consumer spending.
According to data released in June by the Office for National Statistics, some retail businesses reported that output in April was dented because of the wetter weather during the month, according some repots seen by “Food & Climate” platform.
But the country suffered wettest 18 months since records began across the 2023-24 growing year, the leaving soil waterlogged and some farms totally underwater, according to “the guardian”.
The impact on harvests has been disastrous. Data from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs shows that year-on-year vegetable yields decreased by 4.9% to 2.2m tonnes in 2023, and the production volumes of fruit decreased by 12% to 585,000 tonnes.
Farmers said they were not able to plant due to the wet weather, and this is borne out in the statistics. The growing area of vegetables was down, falling by 6.5% to 101,000 hectares. A dry early summer in 2023 also did not help, as those who could not irrigate found it hard to plant.
Wet weather in the autumn and winter meant that the planted area of brassicas decreased by 3.1% to 23,000 hectares, leading to a 0.4% fall in broccoli yields and a 9.2% year-on-year fall in cauliflower volumes. Onions fared similarly, with volumes down by 13% and a fall in production area of 3.6%. So did carrots; their yields fell by 7.2%.
While the grower David Blacker estimates this season’s wet weather could cost him £80,000 ($ 103.2) in lost income, due to reduced yields, no spring cropping and less contracting work, according to “FWI”.
Between 15-17 September, Blacker drilled winter wheat varieties Graham, Extase and Champion, at rates to achieve establishment of 300-350 seeds/sq m.
The crops received pre- and post-emergence herbicides and, by February, plants had 900 tillers/sq m. However, constant rain in March and April led to severe waterlogging.
He applied 70kg/ha of nitrogen fertiliser on 24 March, but three weeks later, crop growth was unchanged, and plants were yellow.
Soil tests found only 25kgN/ha, meaning 45kgN/ha had been lost, much of it through nitrous oxide gas, due to the anaerobic conditions.
Subsequently, tiller counts fell to 500/sq m in March and, by April, were 300/sq m, with single tiller plants.
Farmers said the new government needed a proper plan for food security as the UK’s climate becomes less predictable, with more extreme weather hitting farms.
Guy Singh-Watson, the founder of Riverford fruit and vegetable boxes, said the data was a “wake-up call, showing the dire state of British horticulture”.
The chair of the National Farmers’ Union horticulture and potatoes board, Martin Emmett, said: “These stark statistics are sadly not a surprise. Recent shortages of some of the nation’s favourite fruit and vegetables shows we cannot afford to let our production decline and that we must value our food security.