The farmer Herefordshire sees the broccoli harvest struck by a heat wave and the lack of water

Farmers in the driest regions of the United Kingdom face some of their worst harvests while the heat wave continues to hit the yields of crops and vegetables.

Broccoli producers are particularly struggling with a lack of water and soil dried by OS, with cut yields of more than 50%, the affected quality and the buyers warned to expect smaller vegetables on the shelves.

A producer of Herefordshire told the BBC that there could be supply shortages if sustained precipitation did not come soon.

The British Growers Association said that brassicas supplies – including broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage – were “tight” but better harvests in wet parts of the United Kingdom should ensure that vegetables are still going to supermarkets.

The unity of energy and climatic intelligence (ECIU), an independent reflection group, now warns that the United Kingdom is about to see its sixth or seventh worst harvest since it started 40 years ago.

Although the overall image of the harvest is mixed through the United Kingdom, farmers in certain parts of the country who have seen little rain and have low river levels – and which cultivate products in lighter and dry soil that does not hold humidity – see substantial gaps.

Ben Andrews, who has a mixed biological farm, the crop of broccoli near Iminster, Herefordshire, told BBC that buyers will have to “change their expectations” as to the size and shape of vegetables in supermarkets.

He added because it was also too hot for the brassicas to be cultivated abroad and imported in the United Kingdom, there could also be shortage problems.

“You may not be looking at a availability and maybe need to accept smaller heads of broccoli or lettuce or cabbage.

“I’m not sure that the shelves are empty, but if it continues, it’s not completely impossible,” he said.

The British Growers Association (BGA) said that this summer “turned out to be another climate challenge for producers”, but that the deficits of certain suppliers were attenuated by producers cultivating more crops in areas that have experienced lower temperatures and higher precipitation.

Jack Ward, the Director General of the BGA, said: “In some regions, the supplies of summer, cauliflower and cabbage brassicas are tight.

“Other radicular crops, carrots and onions have been maintained by the use of irrigation, but there are serious concerns about water supply if the lack of rain continues.

“At this stage, we are convinced that cultures will be there, but the weather events of the last three months highlight the growing uncertainty around our food supplies.”

Meanwhile, the arable farmer Martin Williams, who is also president of the National Farmers ‘Union’ Union ‘branch’ Union (NFU) Herefordshire, said that he had seen a 50% drop in his cereal yield, a third of the normal harvest of the potato was likely, and there had been a 70% drop in the cultivated grass.

He said that the conditions had been “absolutely, devastating” and that he now envisages how and what he should cultivate in the future

“In the future, this makes me wonder about the viability of growing cereal products crops.

“It is a work-based work, but if I can manage my risk by not increasing these risky cultures, it may be something I should look at,” he said.

The National Farmers’ Union (NFU) said that the extremes of the weather conditions for this year had been “unprecedented”, the overall image of the harvest currently “extremely varied”.

Jamie Burrows, chairman of the NFU culture board of directors, said that farmers in the areas that had seen precipitation actually saw “yields” better than expected, while others are “confronted with significant reductions that will have substantial financial implications on their businesses”.

Tom Lancaster, the head of the land, food and agriculture of the ECIU, said that successive years of extreme time, both humid and dry, wreaked havoc for farmers.

He told the BBC: “I don’t think we should look at this year rightly in isolation. This is part of a model, which comes out of the second worst harvest last year and the worst harvest never recorded in 2020.

“It is this scheme that we must worry about because, like these impacts on agriculture and on farmers are starting to accumulate, farmers will effectively stop agriculture.”