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Farming though drought and extreme heat

United Kingdom
Farm Practices
drought
Water

Three NFFN farmers reflect on the impact of this year’s extreme weather and the solutions they are exploring to build more resilient farms.

The summer of 2026, with long spells of drought and unprecedented heatwaves, has had a major impact on farming. Here, three NFFN farmers reflect on what a summer of almost no rainfall has done to their crops, and how they will build long-term resilience into their farm businesses.

Ben Andrews - Broadward Hall Farm, Herefordshire

The 300 acres of river valley where Ben grows arable crops and vegetables have seen no significant rainfall for around two months. This has had a big impact on crop yields and the business’ finances.

“To be honest, I’m amazed how many crops are still growing,” Ben says. “The tenderstem broccoli is holding up remarkably well, and our contractor says our yields are comparable to or better than more conventional systems, which is reassuring. However, lettuces are really struggling and we’ve had weeks off harvesting them, which will hit us hard financially. Kale is struggling too, and our attempts at undersowing to improve soil structure have failed as well.”

Ben has an abstraction licence to draw water from the river running through his farm when water flow allows, but this has not been possible this summer. He has used a trickle irrigation system to give crops such as lettuces some water, encouraging root growth and keeping them alive.

In a location also susceptible to flooding in winter, storing water during rainfall events and holding on to it for use in dry periods is now vital.

We’re going to completely dig out one of the fields worst hit by flooding for water storage, reconnect floodplains and work on cover cropping and other methods of improving the soil’s water infiltration and holding capacity.

Ben Andrews

“I guarantee that this farm in the next three or four months will be flooded,” Ben says. “We currently don’t have the infrastructure to hold any of that water to use during the summer. We are tenant farmers and the capital costs of that infrastructure are prohibitive, even if our landlords let us put it in.

“We’re in a Landscape Recovery scheme that will include flood management features. We’re going to completely dig out one of the fields worst hit by flooding for water storage, reconnect floodplains and work on cover cropping and other methods of improving the soil’s water infiltration and holding capacity.

“We need a proper strategy for homegrown fruit and veg that looks seriously at what we grow and where and how we grow it,” he adds. “In southern Europe, lettuce and brassicas are spring and autumn crops. They wouldn’t dream of growing them in summer like we’re doing. Vegetables are so sensitive to changes in temperature, and they require water. The difficulty is whether we’re looking at consistent or chaotic change, because that makes planning for the future so hard.”

The Community Farm - Chew Valley, near Bristol

The not-for-profit farm a few miles south of Bristol expects yields across its 8.3 acres of organic vegetable growing to be around 20% down on expectations, cutting around a fifth from its expected income.

Brassicas, which normally thrive on the farm’s sandy loam soil, have been hit hard by flea beetles, while leafy greens have been bolting and cucumbers have struggled in the polytunnels, particularly earlier in the growing season. In better news, the farm is looking at a bumper squash harvest, while crops more associated with the Mediterranean, such as tomatoes and aubergines, have done well.

One advantage for The Community Farm is that, as a relatively small operation (15 acres in total), it is able to irrigate using mains water. However, the team has put in a lot of manual labour to move irrigation pipes around the site, while people have also been working earlier than usual for harvesting during the heatwaves. The team is working with Farming in Protected Landscapes (FiPL) and Bristol Avon Rivers Trust (BART) to find funding for rainwater harvesting equipment.

Direct selling means the farm’s customers are more willing to accept veg that is smaller or wonkier due to the heat and drought.

Running a box scheme has proved helpful as the farm grows a wide range of crops to satisfy customer demand. This diversity means at least some crops should be thriving in almost any conditions. Direct selling also means the farm’s customers are more willing to accept veg that is smaller or wonkier due to the heat and drought, particularly compared to larger growers who have to meet supermarkets’ strict grading requirements.

Tom Pearson - Manor Farm, Cambridgeshire

Tom’s farm includes arable farming and a market garden growing vegetables, and both have been hit hard by the weather. Arable yields are around 40% down this year, while the market garden has struggled to have enough water. “We had 60,000 litres of rainwater harvesting, and it was all used up by mid-April,” Tom says. “In a ‘normal’ year we would consistently get about 50mm of rainfall a month which would keep the tanks topped up, but by the third week of April we had run out and it never properly got topped up after that.

“We’re also in the process of drilling a borehole for the market garden - we’re at 130 metres having hit nothing but clay. There’s a real risk we have wasted money on it for nothing. Looking forward, if we can’t find water, we can’t expand the market garden.”

Tom is now having to consider major financial investments to get the water his farm requires. “I think there are real questions about what we’re going to do in East Anglia with less than 500mm of rain,” he says. “We’re looking at needing triple our current water storage capacity. Reservoirs are hard for us because our farm is flat and at the top of a catchment, so we’d need a lot of earthmoving. It’s all very expensive.”

We need to think carefully about genetics. Currently, commercial wheat is bred primarily for maximum yields and some disease resistance, but with little or no attention paid to drought tolerance.

Tom Pearson

Helping soils hold more water through regenerative, nature-friendly principles has been a focus across the farm for the past ten years, but Tom worries this may not be enough to withstand extreme drought events. Deeper-rooting species and varieties are another piece of the puzzle when it comes to building drought resilience. Tom has been trialling ancient grains this summer, and has been impressed. “They grow well with no inputs, they have great rooting systems and they are drought-tolerant,” he says. While he is experimenting with niche crops for smaller markets, he believes there are lessons to be learned for commodity crop production too.

“We need to think carefully about genetics. To take wheat, for example. Currently, commercial wheat is bred primarily for maximum yields and some disease resistance, but with little or no attention paid to drought tolerance. This is a climate emergency and a matter of national and food security. The Government needs to think seriously about how we coordinate public and private investment to develop farming systems that can cope with increasingly extreme weather events.”

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