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Dave Thomas

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Farmers warn of food price rises after warmest May in decades

Written by on 30/05/2020

Farmers have warned of produce price rises after sunny weather led to a reduction in crop harvesting.

It has been the sunniest spring in the UK since records began in 1926, according to the Met Office, and it is believed that we have had the driest May for 124 years.

This is expected to be confirmed on Monday.

But while many are enjoying the warm weather, the lack of rain is becoming “increasingly serious” for farmers, the National Farmer’s Union has said.

David Barton, who owns Manor Farm near Cirencester in Gloucester, estimates the amount of wheat he’ll produce will be halved this year.

He told Sky News: “Normally I’d be expecting somewhere about 10 tonnes per hectare. This year my best estimate is 5 tonnes and that might be being slightly optimistic.”

He expects the “significant impact” of the weather on wheat production in the UK will lead to food price rises.

“It’s inevitable it’ll affect the price of bread flour and bread,” he said.

The problems for farmers began with a very wet autumn and winter, with many parts of the UK deluged by “once in a generation” flooding.

Mr Barton added: “It was very difficult to get crops in the ground and established in the autumn due to wet weather. It’s been a struggle from then.

“If we’d just had an average, normal spring the crops would have been fine, nothing spectacular. But really since it stopped raining, they struggled.”

He fears if there’s no rain in the next two weeks many crops will just die off.

He also has a herd of cattle, but is concerned that grass is running out and they’ll have nothing to graze on.

“I have enough grass for a week. After that I don’t know what I’ll do,” he said.

Dr Mark McCarthy, from the Met Office’s national climate information centre, said: “Spring 2020 has been very dry, and May in parts of England has been exceptionally dry.

“As it stands up to May 27, for England, May 2020 is the driest May on record since 1896, with less than 10mm rain falling across England on average.”

Despite the drier conditions, there are no plans for hosepipe bans, with the Environment Agency stating on Thursday that most water companies have “appropriate” water reserves.

An Environment Agency spokesman said: “We work closely with all water companies throughout the year to ensure their drought plans are up to date and activated as needed.”

(c) Sky News 2020: Farmers warn of food price rises after warmest May in decades