Region’s farmers being urged to conserve water

Soil testing specialists are warning the drought conditions will leave make it difficult for crops to take up key nutrients and leave others inactive.

Crops that are particularly sensitive to elevated salt levels in the soil include onions, peas, beans and root crops such as carrots.

Chairman of the British Carrot Growers' Association, Roger Hobson, whose crops include carrots, wheat, barley, oilseed rape and sugar beet at his 1,000-acre farm at Crockey Hill, near York, said he was set to begin the earliest ever harvest due to the drought.

He said a “kind winter” and great drilling conditions had raised hopes for a high yield while crop values remain low, but it would not be until the combine harvester got going that it would become clear “how poor or not as bad as feared” the harvest would be.

Mr Hobson said: “Yorkshire seems to have got the worst of it. When the temperature gets over 25 degrees the carrot goes into shutdown, stops growing and wilts.”

Mr Hobson underlined how the watering on the farm was limited by licences.

He said: “My team have been flat out watering for ten weeks and you never have enough water to go round. We are praying that we will see a weather change in the next few weeks so the rest of the crop has time to recover and come back.

"If we don’t see a weather change, and this drought continues like it did in 2022 and 2018, the outlook will be very serious.” Mounting concerns over crop failure follow farmers across the region shouldering the blow of harvests being impacted by the very wet winter of 2023/24.

In response to the prolonged dry conditions, the Environment Agency has increased support to assist farmers in using water more efficiently.

The agency has warned spray irrigation, used during hot weather to protect crops, is facing mounting pressure with falling river and groundwater levels in some areas. Last week, Yorkshire Water declared its reservoirs were 58.3 per cent full, compared to 81.9 per cent on average at this time of year.

The agency is also encouraging to minimise leaks from irrigation equipment, monitor the water needs of crops and plan irrigation for times of the day which will limit evaporation. Without significant rainfall, it said that some farmers may face restrictions on water abstraction that could limit their ability to irrigate.

Richard Thompson of the Environment Agency, said: “As our climate changes, coordinated action is critical to secure our water future, protect food production, and drive resilience and growth across farming and rural communities."