Farmer issues “catastrophic” drought warning – “It can’t carry on!”

Farmers across the UK are grappling with extreme conditions across the country, as five areas are officially in drought, and six more experiencing prolonged dry weather. A Lincolnshire farmer has labelled the situation as “catastrophic” due to a significant decrease in crop yields. In the South East of England, Winter Barely yields are down almost 20%, as rural workers fear for the knock on effect to both livestock and the UK’s food security. 

Andrew Ward MBE who farms near to Leadenham is one agricultural worker with “a very, very reduced amount of grain due to the dry weather”. By this time of year, the farmer explained that he would usually have a heap “three feet higher and it would be full to the door”. 

“The lack of rain has been catastrophic, especially to spring crops,” he told GB News, adding that he also faces selling his wheat and barley for less than the price more than 10 years ago.

“The problem we’ve got at the minute is grain prices are really poor.. We’re selling wheat feed grain around about £165/£170 per tonne,” he told the news channel. 

Mr Ward explained that in 2012, wheat sold for £200 a tonne, meaning they received £35 more per tonne a thirteen years ago. 

“We’re paying today’s rate, but we’re selling our crops at a lot less than it was in 2012 and that is not sustainable. It can’t carry on.”

This comes as Labour pauses the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) scheme – which financially remunerates farmers for adopting sustainable farming practices. The Government said it will provide more information about the scheme’s future later this year.

One farmer had attempted to get ahead of the curb by investing in a reservoir for irrigation, water management and natural soil four years ago. James Robert Blyth, 42, who runs Lower Farm in Ardleigh, Colchester, told the Express that, while he has tried to take matters into his own hands to save his farm, he struggled to obtain an abstraction licence from the Environment Agency.

Mr Blyth’s family built the reservoir at their own expense, but believe their licence application has been repeatedly pushed to the “bottom of the queue” – they are now considering giving up the effort altogether.

“Four or five months ago, we were asked to resubmit under a new pricing structure – which involves the application fee rising from around £600 to around £8,000,” he said. “We’re not even guaranteed to get the licence if we do apply again.”

A spokesperson for the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said: “This government has allocated a record £11.8 billion towards sustainable farming and food production and we will outline updates to our reformed SFI offer later this year.

“We are working with farmers to build greater resilience to climate change including through the National Drought Group.”