Climate-Driven Drought Pushes European Farmers to the Brink

This summer’s heatwaves have produced unprecedented temperatures across Europe, while drought conditions have been declared in half of England and in large parts of France. The Environment Agency reports that July is on track to become the driest month on record after winter floods. On a Norfolk farm, Tim Young notes that rainfall over the past six years has been only two-thirds of historic levels, and in July his farm received just 0.2 mm of rain.

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Tim Young, who has farmed in Norfolk since 1976, says the lack of water has become the number-one risk to his business. Last year his onion crop was 500 tonnes smaller than expected, leaving him 35 % down on profit because supermarkets reject undersized onions, many of which went to waste. In the Dordogne, Uyen Do, an organic farmer who took over her family farm in 2018, describes the situation:

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“The vines are dying. The grass is yellow and now we can smell the smoke,” — Uyen Do, an organic farmer in the Dordogne region of France

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Do adds that the rapid pace of climate change leaves her unable to adapt quickly enough.

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Young hopes to build a reservoir to capture intense rainfall, but cost and planning permission have been barriers. Paul Tompkins, deputy president of the National Farmers’ Union, warns that regulators expect many on-farm reservoirs to run dry by August in drought-designated areas. Luke King, supply-chain and technical director at Riverford, says his business now relies on a single remaining reservoir and uses humidity sensors and soil-moisture probes to water crops efficiently.

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Pippa Murray, founder of the food company Pip and Nut, notes that water scarcity has forced some California almond growers to abandon orchards, prompting price increases for her products and expectations of further hikes. The broader market volatility is described as “on an upward trend.”

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Prof Pete Falloon, the Met Office’s science lead on food security, advises that the sector should adopt existing regenerative practices, improve flood management, expand water-storage capacity, and shift to crop varieties with greater heat and drought tolerance. He emphasizes that the challenge is less about inventing new technologies and more about widespread implementation and field-level learning.

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