For context, only two months of 2025 have seen more than 100% so far.
Some areas have seen significant rainfall, particularly in the North and West, but areas of East Anglia, central England and the South East continue to have high soil moisture deficits preventing much recharge to ground water.
NFU Vice-president Rachel Hallos said: “The unprecedented dry conditions this year have been extremely challenging for many farmers, and we must now prepare ourselves for more of the same heading into 2026.
“We need to ensure farm reservoirs can be filled quickly as we go into winter, with early, coordinated communication between regulators and stakeholders being crucial if we are to access water while it is available.
“We also need to make sure the lessons of this spring, and from previous droughts, are learnt so the right flexibility and support is available to farming businesses. That includes options with agri-environmental schemes, funding for climate adaptation and resilient crop varieties, and a more effective planning system, in order to safeguard our ability to continue producing food.”
Advice for farmers
For those with winter storage reservoirs it is recommended that they take advantage of access to water where their licence permits to refill volume as soon as possible. If they need some flexibility in their licence conditions, they should speak to the EA as soon as possible.
The EA has published its drought prospects report on 14 November giving a forward look on available water over the winter. It indicates the likelihood of being able to refill reservoirs this winter depending on the percentage of the long-term average volume of rainfall that actually falls this winter.
Also see the EA winter guide for farmers for information on potential preparations now following the dry weather of 2025.
Working with abstractors
The NFU continues to co-chair the National Drought Group sub-group for the agri–environment sectors. The group works with the EA to ensure challenges are understood and solutions developed where possible.
The EA continues to want to work with farmers, businesses, and other abstractors to manage water availability and ensure that they get the water they need to be resilient while maintaining protection of the environment.
The EA is urging abstractors to review their abstraction licences to ensure that these continue to meet abstractors' needs for long-term resilience.
Where abstractors do not have long-term resilience then they should look to implement alternative solutions such as:
- review cropping plans
- water efficiency
- developing new sustainable sources of water or providing winter storage.
There may also be scope for collaborating with others to share licensed volumes, if actions taken individually are insufficient to provide resilience.
We are encouraging abstractors to think about working together as a water abstractor group to help their future resilience and consider what options there might be for developing a shared water resource if multiple businesses are locally challenged to find water.
Read: Local resource option screening study funding – essential information to find out more.
For help and information for members facing issues with dry weather, visit our dry weather essential information page.
