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Farmers are bringing in crops early as prolonged drought puts yields and water supplies under pressure
Britain is putting £65 million into emergency support for farmers as the country's prolonged drought begins to threaten not just agricultural incomes but the reliability of its food supply.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham announced the package on August 15, after England and Wales recorded their driest July on record. The support will go towards sustainable farming, new on-farm reservoirs and making it easier for farmers to access water during periods of shortage.
The intervention comes as farmers report bringing crops in earlier than usual, while lower yields and poorer-quality produce are adding to the pressure from higher costs.
Britain's cereal harvest is already expected to be the weakest since comparable records began in 1984, according to earlier analysis.
Burnham said food production was a matter of national security and that farmers should not be left to carry the risks of a changing climate alone.
That argument is becoming harder to separate from the weather. July 2026 was the driest July on record for England and Wales, with England receiving only around 10 per cent of its long-term average rainfall, according to the Met Office.
It is also the third drought in five years, putting farmers in a very different position from dealing with a single unusually dry summer.
Of the £65m package, £50m will go to the Sustainable Farming Incentive, taking its total budget to £290m.
The scheme normally pays farmers for environmental work on parts of their land. Under the new arrangements, farmers facing shortages of grass will be able to cut or graze some of those areas without losing their payments.
The remaining £15m will support on-farm reservoirs, giving farmers the ability to store water for use during future dry periods rather than depending entirely on supplies during a drought.
The government has also announced support for nine new reservoirs, while five existing reservoirs currently have exceptionally low water levels.
There will be changes to the way farmers access water too. Ministers intend to simplify arrangements governing how much water can be taken from the environment and speed up the process for obtaining abstraction licences.
That part of the package could prove just as important as the immediate financial support, particularly if dry summers become more frequent.
But farming groups have warned that £15m will cover only a small share of the reservoirs needed.
Gavin Lane, president of the Country Land and Business Association, reportedly described the package as a welcome but temporary measure. He said the reservoir funding was positive but argued that a longer-term programme was needed, with planning and water abstraction arrangements working alongside it.
Farmers would still have to carry most of the construction costs, at a time when they are already facing higher operating expenses.
The government is therefore trying to tackle two different problems at once: helping farmers survive the current drought while giving them more control over water when the next one arrives.
That longer-term question is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore.
Burnham has already chaired an emergency Cobra meeting on the heat, wildfires and drought, with ministers looking at a broader response covering farming, water and infrastructure.
After visiting a fire-hit area in the West Midlands, he said Britain needed to face up to a changing climate rather than deny it.
For farmers, however, the immediate concern is much more basic.
Less rain means less water, weaker crops and potentially less food coming out of British fields. The £65m package may ease some of that pressure, but the government's decision to fund reservoirs and change water rules suggests it is also preparing for the possibility that this is no longer just a bad summer, but a recurring problem Britain has to learn to manage.
