This could pile further pressure on farmers and potentially push up some supermarket prices, retailers have warned.
“The North West and Yorkshire are officially in drought status, with a risk of drought moving into the North East, Midlands and East Anglia if the weather remains unusually hot and dry,” an Environment Agency spokesperson told The i Paper.
Eastern Scotland and northern and eastern Wales are also in danger of moving into drought as they are classed as being in “prolonged dry weather” status – one rung below a drought.
Farmers across the country are reporting difficulties growing crops such as wheat, potatoes and carrots after England recorded just 44 per cent of its normal rainfall in March, April and May and 71 per cent so far in June. And these problems will deepen if new areas go into drought.
“Reduced yields from poor UK harvests would likely put pressure on food prices and will increase reliance on imports to ensure availability for customers,” Andrew Opie, Director of Food & Sustainability at the British Retail Consortium told The i Paper.
Experts point out that prices on crops such as wheat and barley tend to be set globally and so are less likely to be affected by poor growing conditions in the UK – although they say even those might come under pressure, especially if Iran was to carry out its threat of shutting the Strait of Hormuz, a major trade route.
Asked whether we might see food shortages or price rises as a result of a significant drought, Rachel Hallos, a South Pennines beef and sheep farmer and vice president of the National Farmers Union, told The i Paper: “It literally depends on whether they can get it from elsewhere and that geopolitical climate that we’re in. If something goes wrong in Iran again and those shipping straits get blocked, we’ve got problems. We’re on that knife edge”.
“Last year, trying to get it in, it was wet and then we had lots of flooding. Then it was pretty cold and from the cold, it was very very dry. And from the end of October, we had very little rainfall to keep the crops growing.”
Reservoirs depleted – and hosepipe bans loom
Yorkshire Water, which is already operating in a drought, said its reservoirs are currently 58.3 per cent full, compared with an average of 81.9 per cent for this time of year.
“Without significant rainfall in the coming months, temporary usage restrictions are a possibility. It’s important customers continue with their own efforts to use water wisely to help protect water resources into the summer months,” he said.
“There is a higher-than-average chance of a hot period over summer,” said Met Office spokesman Grahame Madge.
“We have already seen one in June, with another one on the way for the end of the month. Taking the UK as a whole near-average rainfall is most likely,” he added.
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