Grower groups have called for better investment in water storage infrastructure following the driest spring since 1956.
Despite a wet winter, growers have started to irrigate earlier than normal to offset drier conditions, leading to concerns over water supply for the rest of the summer.
“For large parts of the winter we saw widespread flooding and very high water levels in rivers, yet within weeks of that happening we are talking about being short of water,” said Jack Ward, chairman of the British Growers Association. “The overwhelming conclusion is that we need to be better prepared for a more volatile climate, and we need to improve the resilience of our domestic food production systems.”
He explained that growers were having to irrigate earlier than expected, which is driving up production costs and “eats into what are normally finite supplies of water”.
Ward warned this could mean crops will run short in the later summer months when conditions are typically drier.
Calls for bolstering this infrastructure were echoed by the NFU, who said it was crucial to “future-proof” and find better ways of collecting, storing and moving water.
“To ensure British-grown food that our customers enjoy is on the supermarket shelves, we take water seriously. Now others must do the same,” said NFU vice president Rachel Hallos.
“Investing in the nation’s water infrastructure will allow us to look at innovative ways of growing more fruit and veg and other crops here, while reducing the amount we import from more water-scarce countries.”
Read more: Environmental and farming groups call for support as dry weather takes hold
“This must include initiatives like rainwater harvesting and flexible abstraction measures to ensure water availability for our farmers during periods of drought,” she added.
Concerns over a lack of reservoirs in the country were also raised by Simon Conway, CEO of industry board Horticulture Crop Protection, who said “fundamentally, this is the issue”.
“We’re often in flood situations in each winter but we’re not capturing that water particularly well.”
The main barrier for this is having “longer-term planning for water storage” as at the moment while there are Defra grants for reservoir construction, the window to apply for grants is often short.
This comes as at the start of the month, the Environment Agency stepped up dry weather preparations and warned there was a medium risk of drought this summer without sustained rainfall.
Some crops have done well with the sunnier and drier weather, with British Berry Growers saying berries will be larger and more shapely this year due to climate conditions.
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