How 2026’s extreme heat is impacting British farmers and growers

Spring and summer 2026 have been marked by extreme heat. “This year has seen temperatures roar to nearly 40 degrees, and farmers across the UK are struggling to keep crops alive and livestock protected,” says Hannah Blitzer, senior policy officer for farming and land use at the Soil Association. 

Indeed, by the end of July the country has experienced its fourth heatwave, with little meaningful rainfall in the driest areas (namely central, southern and eastern England) fuelling wildfires.

“The impacts of climate change are no longer a future threat for British farming – they’re already being felt in fields across the country,” says Alys Bannister, sustainable farming campaign manager at Sustain, the alliance for better food and farming.

In the hotter weather, some crops ripen more quickly while others experience slower growth. The recent heatwaves have led Waitrose to begin its earliest ever harvest of wheat and oilseed rape at its Leckford Estate farm, which is used as a trial area for sustainable farming practices, as crops ripened faster than usual. Meanwhile, Nationwide Produce has said some of its crops, like Tenderstem broccoli, were growing slower – or not at all – with the extreme heat causing the vegetables to enter a dormant state.

“Farmers and growers across the country are working around the clock to harvest crops which have come early, keep fruit and vegetables watered, and care for their livestock,” says NFU deputy president Paul Tompkins.

And as Paul points out, extreme heat is not the only factor for farmers to consider. “Parts of the country, particularly in the east and south, have seen exceptionally low rainfall this spring and summer, creating real challenges for farm businesses,” Paul continues. “For many arable farmers, this could be another difficult and expensive harvest after extreme weather impacts in both 2024 and 2025 which saw both drought and flood.”

Extreme weather is costly for those in the business of agriculture, many of whom are already stretched financially following last year’s hot weather. Farmers in England were estimated to lose more than £800 million in 2025 due to the hot and dry spring and summer, according to the latest data from the Climate Change Committee. “While we don’t know the full impact of this year’s heatwave,” Alys continues, “we know weather extremes are becoming the norm, not the exception, and farmers need support to adapt.” 

One organic farm’s experience

Valentina Volikakis and Tristan Hine run Oakcroft Organics, a two-acre certified organic market garden nestled in the Cheshire countryside, just outside Malpas. After beginning their farming journey in 2020 on an organic farm in southern Norway, the pair began putting down their own roots in the UK at the start of 2025.

Two years of extreme weather have brought challenges. “Both 2025 and 2026 have been extraordinarily dry years,” Valentina tells Speciality Food. “We are in a little bit of a microclimate where we are, so whereas some of our surrounding areas can get a little bit more rainfall, we are quite a lot drier.”

While vegetables need 25 millilitres of rain every week, the only meaningful rain Oakcroft Organics has seen since the end of February was 30 millilitres in May, creating “pretty extreme drought conditions. And last year was similar,” Valentina says.

Having worked briefly on a farm in Australia, the pair picked up a lot about dealing with a lack of rain. “We learned a lot of strategies out there on how to deal with dry conditions and the extreme heat in order to be able to produce vegetables,” Valentina says.

One change they have made this year is moving their working times to avoid the hottest parts of the day. “With these heatwaves, especially, we’ve shifted to starting very early, finishing by the time it reaches 25, 30 degrees, and then doing a bit more in the evening once it’s cooled down,” Tristan says. Harvesting now happens in the early mornings, and they have had to carefully consider their watering times.

The farm has access to mains water, but Tristan and Valentina have plans to future-proof their farm as they anticipate droughts continuing in the future. Whereas previous owners of the farm relied on rainfall to provide most of the water for their crops, Valentina explains, “We plan to invest a lot more in irrigation systems where we’re able to automate them to water during the night in order to increase water uptake and also water penetration into the ground for our crops.” They are also negotiating with their landlords, the Soil Association Land Trust, to put in a borehole for long-term sustainability.

“We want to be able to be more sustainable and resilient,” Valentina says. While Oakcroft Organics is a small farm, they are striving to create a system where they can access the water to irrigate their crops as and when they need it.

Milk producers under pressure

Fruit and veg producers are not the only farms affected by the extreme heat. “A prolonged period of drought has led to dairy farmers reporting a drop in milk yields, as cows are producing less milk under the heat,” says the Soil Association’s Hannah. This is putting producers of milk, cheese and other dairy products in a difficult situation where costs are increasing at a time when revenue is at risk.

Over in northern Italy, extreme heat and drought are spelling trouble for producers of Parmigiano Reggiano. Nicola Bertinelli, president of the Parmigiano Reggiano Consortium, has said heatwaves were impacting both the quantity and quality of milk in the regions where the protected cheese is made. “If it doesn’t rain, grass doesn’t grow, hay cannot be produced and it’s impossible to obtain the milk needed to make the cheese,” the Grocery Gazette reported.

“The lack of policy to support landscape-scale and sectoral resilience has never been clearer when we can see the effects of climate change in front of our eyes - this isn’t an issue for the future anymore,” Hannah continues.

Support for farmers

With farmers facing a double-edged sword of rising costs and riskier weather conditions, more support is needed to instil confidence, Alys says. “Government must give farmers the confidence and certainty to invest in climate resilience, including through long-term support that de-risks the transition to agroecological farming,” Alys tells Speciality Food. 

“The recently published Farming Roadmap is a welcome first step, but farmers still need clarity on how this will be delivered in practice, including well-funded Environmental Land Management schemes, support for better soil and water management, and fairer supply chains so farmers can invest in resilient farm businesses.”

Prioritise drought resilience

The NFU’s Paul agrees that the UK must strengthen resilience to climate volatility to help farmers adapt, especially when it comes to drought tolerance. “That means a more responsive abstraction licensing system, a consistent positive approach in planning to make building reservoirs easier, which will lead to investment in on-farm water storage.” 

Valentina and Tristan agree that support in this area could make a different to farmers of any size. “For small farms like us, it’s quite difficult to get licences for boreholes and abstracting water,” Tristan says. Having assistance getting access to these from local government would be a big help. “But then there also needs to be responsibility that it’s not wasted, that it’s not over-abstracted, and not abstracted when there are low flows in the river,” he adds.

The pair also believe more funding should be provided for water capture and storage. “We get pretty wet winters here, and a lot of that just does run off into rivers and then out into the seas. We don’t have enough reservoir capacity,” Tristan says. “If we captured more during the winter, that could be a way that we could be helping farmers that are able to extract from reservoirs.” 

Allowing more wetland space to be created, smaller reservoirs that are accessible to farmers, and for farmers to build their own ponds on their property could all help to boost rainwater capture. Even supporting more households to access grants for water capture would help reduce the strain on the country’s water system, they say, prioritising water for farmers and growers.

How a basic income for farmers could help

A movement of growers is pushing for another solution that could support farmers to future-proof their operations: a basic income for farmers, guaranteeing every agricultural worker an income that would give them the security to meet their basic needs and greater financial agency in an often turbulent profession.

It’s something Tristan and Valentina believe holds promise. “Taking away that financial uncertainty can provide opportunities for growers and farmers to invest in new strategies, new growing systems that they might be unwilling to do because they are just continuing with the tried and tested methods,” Tristan says.

“If our climate is constantly changing and what we’re doing is currently not working because the drought and changing conditions,” Valentina adds, “then it can be very scary for somebody who’s been doing the same thing to try something new and have a risk of that crop failing when farmers work on such small margins to begin with.”

The benefits of organic farming and agroforestry

As industry experts tell Speciality Food, extreme weather conditions are here to stay. In fact, 2027 could bring even hotter weather as forecasts suggest the coming El Niño weather pattern could be among the strongest ever recorded.

For Hannah at the Soil Association, the solutions are already clear. “Our No Drought About It report calls on the UK government to back nature-friendly farming practices like agroecology and organic farming through a ten-point plan.

“Organic farming’s focus on soil health has the potential to help land retain more water, while agroforestry lets dairy farmers use trees to offer shade from the sun, rather than keeping animals housed permanently,” Hannah adds.

“So, we urge the government to produce an organic action plan and scale up agroforestry to 5% of agricultural land by 2030, and 10% by 2040, with half of all farms using it by 2050, by ensuring that enough long-term funding is available and removing the barriers stopping farmers, including tenants, from planting trees and reaching new markets for UK-grown woody products and nuts.”

With the right support, Britain’s farmers can approach the coming years with renewed confidence and innovative ideas to build a more resilient farming system.