UK cereal harvest lowest on record as drought cuts wheat yields, AHDB says

The wheat harvest on Charles Day's family farm in north Gloucestershire was cut in half, he told the BBC. "It's just soul-destroying," Day said. He said the crops looked "fantastic" in April, but the rain stopped in June and "the sun just stole our yield".

Official figures estimate the total UK cereal harvest was the lowest on record, with wheat down about three million tonnes, or 11%, according to the Agricultural and Horticultural Development Board (AHDB). Anthony Hopkins, the AHDB's director of cereals and oilseeds, said arable farmers in the worst-affected areas are "really feeling the financial pressure right now" at a time of high input costs.

Across the South West, Tom Collins, who speaks for the NFU in Wiltshire, said most cereal farmers had seen harvests down "at least 30%". Spring barley and beans were more than 50% down, he said. "Most farmers will give this harvest 3 out of 10," he added.

Dairy farmer Sarah Godwin, whose family farm is west of Chippenham in Wiltshire, said the drought cost the family more than £100,000 in extra feed, plus about £20,000 in lost production. She said they had to open silage — grass stored as winter cattle feed — early and buy in extra feed after the drought left grazing pastures without nutrition. She said the cows also suffered more lameness, lower fertility and more mastitis, an udder infection.

The BBC reported that milk production barely fell, with total UK production down 4.5% according to the AHDB. Godwin said: "That's because we have to feed our cows, and milk them, whatever the weather."

The BBC's reporter also said farmers installed showers for cows and saw their cauliflowers burn in the heat. Cider orchards were reduced to a tenth of their normal apple crop, it reported.