Britain Could Face Food Shortages as Drought Hits Farms

Farmers in Britain are warning that parts of the country could face food shortages after a severe drought hit large areas of England this summer. The drought is the third in just five years, and farming groups say this kind of extreme weather is becoming the 'new normal.' Wheat plants are growing to only half their usual height, and England is seeing its earliest harvest ever recorded as farmers rush to save what they can of their crops.

Tom Bradshaw, the president of the National Farmers' Union (NFU), says the situation is serious and has asked the prime minister to step in. He spoke on BBC Radio 4 and called on the government to give farmers tax breaks so they can build water storage systems on their land. 'Those other countries around the world that we currently rely on to produce our food and vegetables, their climates are changing as well,' he said. 'It does feel like there is going to be some shortages of [food] products.'

The trouble started even before the drought. Farms across Britain were flooded during the winter, which made it very hard to plant crops in the first place. Now, with no rain falling in some areas for over a month and record-breaking heat waves arriving since early summer, the soil has dried out completely. In many parts of England, farmers cannot even use irrigation because water use is being restricted.

England's weather office, the Met Office, reported that the country received only 8% of its normal rainfall for July. This means July is likely to be confirmed as the driest on record. About 23 million people in England and Wales are already under a hosepipe ban, which means they cannot use garden hoses or sprinklers. The dry conditions have also helped start devastating wildfires, including recent fires in the county of Suffolk.

The Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) released its first Harvest Report of 2026, which showed just how bad things are. Many farmers in the south and east of England finished their harvest two to three weeks earlier than usual because of the heat. Anthony Hopkins, the AHDB's director of cereals and oilseeds, said some farmers even worked through the night to avoid the hottest temperatures of the day. He noted that cereal crop yields — how much grain is actually produced — have been well below the average for the past ten years.

Crops like wheat and barley have been hit the hardest. Anthony Speight, a senior analyst at the AHDB, said the early signs point to 'disappointing cereal yields in many areas.' Farmers are not just dealing with bad weather, though. The British government has also been removing farming subsidies — money that used to help keep farms running — that came from when Britain was part of the European Union. A recent report found that one in three British farmers is either losing money or barely breaking even.

Gavin Lane, the president of the Country, Land and Business Association, gave a stark warning about what all of this could mean. He said farmers are telling him this is the worst harvest they have seen in years and that a wet winter followed by drought has left wheat at half its usual height. 'This harvest could be their last,' he warned. He called on the government to invest in things like reservoirs and wildfire prevention to help farmers cope with these new and extreme conditions.

The heat is also affecting people's health across England. The UK Health Security Agency has issued heat-health alerts for eight regions of the country. Four regions — the East Midlands, the east of England, the south-east, and London — received amber alerts, the second-highest level of warning. Four other regions, including the north-west and Yorkshire, received yellow alerts. Officials are urging people to stay cool and check on elderly or vulnerable neighbors during the ongoing heat wave.