'Climate change is clear to see and it's why we need to take water seriously'
Travelling down to London last week from my farm in West Yorkshire, I was struck, as I looked from the train window, by the dry and dusty landscape. This Spring is ranking as the driest in over a century, according to the Met Office, and with it, rising concerns within the farming industry.
Grass growth, which is crucial in feeding livestock and producing nutritious milk, is beginning to falter. At home, we've just had a really successful lambing season helped by the glorious weather, but now we don't know where to put the lambs as our fields aren't as lush as they should be.
Meanwhile, crops are becoming stressed from the lack of water. Farmers in some parts of the country have already started to irrigate at huge cost – one farmer I spoke to is spending £10,000 a day - while some water companies are already going into the early stages of their drought precautions.
With the government's Spending Review just weeks away, continued investment to build resilience, protect the environment and support homegrown food production, has never been more important.
It seems crazy that we're currently praying for a drop of rain after last year experiencing one of the most challenging seasons in living memory. Storm after storm sending thousands of acres of farmland under water with devastating floods leading to one of the worst wheat harvests in 20 years.
To think a country like ours, fortunate to have a temperate climate, hasn't invested in all-important water storage. The last major reservoir completed was more than 30 years ago, in 1992, at Carsington in Derbyshire. The impact of climate change is clear for all to see and it's why we need to take water seriously.
Farmers already do. We have to if we are to ensure that the food you enjoy is on the supermarket shelves. It's about futureproofing our use of water and looking at better ways of collecting, storing and moving water when we get too much, for times like now when we have too little. This must include initiatives like rainwater harvesting and flexible abstraction measures to ensure water availability for our farmers during periods of drought.
Central to this must be investment in the nation's water infrastructure. Not just at a big scale but locally too. It will allow us look at innovative ways of growing more fruit and veg and other crops here while reducing the amount we import from more water scarce countries.
Successive governments have focused on the Environmental Land Management scheme as a way to build in both drought resilience and mitigate flood risk. However, with future funding for those schemes uncertain, the NFU has joined forces with environmental groups to call on Chancellor Rachel Reeves to protect the farming budget in the upcoming Spending Review and ensure continued investment in a more resilient farming sector.
By investing in British farming - the backbone of our fantastic food and drink sector - which contributes £148 billion to the national economy, we can lay the foundations for the future of our industry, so farmers can continue producing sustainable and affordable food alongside caring for the precious environment and support the growth our economy badly needs.
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