In England and Wales, farmers and growers use less than 2% of total water abstracted, so water allocation for food production is minor compared to the public supply and energy sectors.
Nevertheless, regulatory change for abstraction licensing means that access to water for home production of fruit and vegetables could get more difficult in future.
Meanwhile, global climate change means that the UK will need to increase its home food and water security to offset potential disruption of food imports from countries that face even more extreme weather events than us.
Therefore there are persuasive reasons to encourage the home production of horticultural products to displace imported goods with a higher water footprint, from countries which face greater climate change pressures than the UK.
But access to a secure supply of water will be vital if British growers are to meet this long term challenge. How will individual businesses and the horticultural sector as a whole adapt to these water challenges and what support will they need?
The best decisions, whether at farm or national policy level, are taken based on the best available evidence.
That is why the NFU is urging members to take part in the water survey recently launch by AHDB Potatoes and ADDB Horticulture. We believe that the survey could be a really useful piece to add to the evidence jigsaw, but it needs maximum grower participation to give it authority.
Members interested in completing the survey should visit the AHDB website, here