Farmers issue call for action: ‘Living on borrowed time’ as flood threat grows

It said since coming to power government preparations for rising temperatures had been "either too slow, has stalled, or is heading in the wrong direction".

The report comes as many Yorkshire farmers continue to recover from inundations last year and in 2023. Flooding has been linked to last year’s wheat harvest being one of the worst in 20 years.

It was reported last year the frequent deluges were having an effect on the mental health of farmers in the region as well as the physical effect of dealing with damaged crops and caring for cattle.

Richard Bramley, who runs a 560-acre farm at Kellfield, south of York, said there was an assumption that more warmth and sunlight would favour food production, but that was “definitely not the reality”.

He said: “At some point the penny has got to drop that the vulnerability of our most productive land is only becoming more evident. As the government is often quoted, food security is national security and is an absolute essential for an island nation. We are living on borrowed time when it comes to environmental matters.”

Charles Clark said 600 acres of his farm at Wistow had regularly been left under 10ft to 15ft of water in recent years and the situation was getting worse.

He said: “We are having to think about how we crop the land because financially it doesn’t stack up. Grandpa said it would flood one in 20, my father talked about one in 10 and we’ve been flooded the last four of five years. We understand as farmers on the river we are going to be flooded, but what annoys me is we are being used as flood storage and there’s no effort to remove water from the land. The river banks are badly maintained. Nothing gets done, it’s just apathy.”

The NFU is calling on the government to establish a long-term funding plan to overhaul the UK’s flooding infrastructure, with a focus on meeting the specific needs of rural areas.

NFU President Tom Bradshaw said: "Even now, more than 12 months on and during the warmest week of the year so far, farm businesses are still working to recover.

"Climate extremes are not going away and we need to be investing in the maintenance and expansion of our flooding defences now to minimise damage in the future.”

Floods Minister Emma Hardy said the government was “really committed” to preparing for the changing climate.

She said: "We are putting £2.65bn into upgrading, maintaining and building new flood defences. But we absolutely know, of course, there's more that needs to be done."