Farmers in the United Kingdom have raised the alarm over the impact of the prolonged dry weather on food supply. According to the report, the National Farmers Union has said there could be shortages of some foods in the UK as a result of the drought, with the union's president, Tom Bradshaw, warning that the country could see food shortages for some types of crops in the coming period.
The dry conditions are already reshaping the farming calendar. According to the report, the 2026 harvest is already the earliest on record, with farmers saying they are working two to three weeks earlier than the long-term average. Wheat and oats are being harvested amid the high temperatures, and the season is being marked by concerns over low yields as the heat continues.
The state of the crops themselves has added to the concern. According to the report, wheat and barley crops are only growing to about half their usual height. Farmers are also having to choose which crops to irrigate because they simply do not have the water supply to irrigate all of them, while reservoirs are drying up across the affected areas.
The scale of the water shortage is significant. According to the report, half of England and the whole of Wales are currently in drought. At the same time, 23 million people are under a hosepipe ban, underlining how far the dry conditions have spread and how many households and producers are being affected by the restrictions.
The NFU has also set out what it wants the government to do. According to the report, Tom Bradshaw has called for government action, including tax breaks to try to help farmers build a permanent irrigation system for their water supply. The proposal is aimed at giving producers a more reliable way to water their crops during repeated periods of dry weather.
The warnings from farmers have come during another spell of extreme heat. According to the report, amber and yellow heat health alerts have been issued for most of England during a fourth heat wave, with temperatures forecast to reach the mid-30s Celsius in the southeast. The UK Health Security Agency issued an amber alert, its second most serious level, for London, the southeast, the east of England and the East Midlands, while other parts of England were placed under a yellow alert.
Alongside the pressure on crops, the dry weather has raised other risks. According to the report, there is a growing wildfire risk, with a wildfire in Suffolk last week and another in Scotland earlier, echoing problems seen across Europe. Livestock farmers are already dipping into their winter feed stores, and the union has stressed that planning around drought, farming and heat health alerts will be increasingly important going forward.