Input costs for UK growers have soared by up to 50% this year due to drought.
Increased water and straw costs in particular are having an impact on growers as they try to manage the impact of drought.
Straw is vital to insulate soil and retain moisture. Due to drought conditions, straw is in short supply across the food supply chain, causing “panic”.
Rodger Hobson, chair of the British Carrot Growers Association and Yorkshire carrot grower, said he had paid between 30% and 40% more for straw this year due to this limited supply.
This, he said, was quite low as he worked with a partner who took a “long-term view”. However, costs could have been far more “eye-watering”, he added.
Carrot yields may be impacted by the weather if there is no significant rain in the next four weeks, he said as while “sometimes the carrot crop can recover if the weather breaks, there’s no sign of it happening”.
Ian Hall, director at Tompsett Burgess Growers, echoed concerns that “there is no rain on the horizon” and while yields to date were slightly down, the “real drama” was still to come.
“Yields will be hit, and our costs have gone up dramatically,” he added, pointing to already slim margins within the supply chain.
Like Hobson, he has had to pay more for straw, as well as having to irrigate more to offset having half the average rainfall expected for this time of year.
This means he has spent 50% more on irrigation than normal, contributing to an overall cost increase of between 7% and 10%, which will be made worse if yields are impacted.
“The cost of irrigation is obviously proportionate with the cost of energy, because you have to pump it,” he explained. “We also buy quite a lot of straw for covering carrots over winter and due to the poor cereal crop, we’ve had to pay a bit more money for straw.”
Elsewhere, pea growers have reported “the worst year” in memory.
The straw price also has an impact on meat supply as it goes into feed. The latest report from the Association of Independent Meat Suppliers warned that some livestock farmers “may have to buy in food or sell animals to reduce pressure on feed supplies”.
“Uncertainty and significant challenges remain in the sector, especially if there is a dry autumn/winter period and farm irrigation reservoirs are not refilled, which may impact on the next year’s planting of crops,” the industry body added.
Shortages of British food
This is leading to concerns that there may be shortages of British food.
“It’s going to be a really tough winter, because there’s not going to be enough straw for people, and there’s not going to be enough feed,” said Liz Webster, an arable and beef farmer in north Wiltshire.
“I think there’s definitely going to be shortages of British food because government policy has made us have less food because there’s less support for growing food, and then the weather has exacerbated that,” Webster added.
She explained that whether shortages would be avoided on shelves depended “on whether they can get the imports”.
Imports could also be more expensive. Hobson said retailers would be looking into whether it would be best to import produce earlier while it was cheaper or wait until the end of the season when the rain may have come in, but the costs would be higher.
“They are trying to quantify that shortage and decide when to take the pain but without the rain, the pain is pretty certain,” he added.
Read more: Potato yield and quality likely to be down as drought takes hold
Alastair Ferguson, commercial director at Strawsons, said the good news was that retailers had established longer-term partnerships with their growers, which gave them “confidence”.
“I remember back to 2018 we had a really bad year of a drought and crops, and because there wasn’t the forward-thinking or longevity by retailers, it was more difficult,” he added. “We’ve definitely moved on, and I can only speak for the retailers I deal with, but I think we’re definitely in a much better place because of that.”
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