This continues to be an anomalous year - for example despite a wet and cooler than average summer, we are still living with the legacy of a dry winter and a very dry spring.
In southern parts of England water resources have not recovered, especially groundwater. Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire, parts of Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire and west Norfolk are still in drought and the dry weather this week is causing issues for abstractors needing to irrigate to lift crops.
A wet autumn is needed to generate a sustained recovery, particularly in these drought-affected areas. This means that although the risk to farmers and growers has reduced as this year’s main abstraction season ends, the drought is not yet over and the NFU recommends members actively review their future water resources needs over the winter.
Find out more in our eleventh drought update, here.
No comments have been made.