Heat is on as farmers struggling to cope

WHAT a week! Record temperatures, wildfires spreading to homes, weather experts somewhat startled to find the UK hitting the 40 degree mark several years earlier than they had predicted – which only goes to show how unreliable any long-term forecasts now are.

And underlying it all, a very strong message for the UK’s farmers: producing food is going to be even more than a struggle than it currently is if we have to cope with heatwaves of this magnitude on a regular basis in future.

While genetic engineering may eventually provide us with more drought-resistant crops, it’s clear that the existing pattern of growing seasons is going to change, and change radically.

There may be benefits – particularly if we can improve levels of water storage – but equally there are going to be some serious challenges. And there’s the other issue, of course, which is that the same impact of climate change is being felt everywhere, including in those countries which currently provide us with the 40 per cent of the food we don’t grow ourselves.

In other words we shouldn’t assume that that 40 per cent contribution to the UK’s diet will always be available. Which makes it more important than ever that we step up domestic food output to the 80 per cent or more we know is achievable.

But while contemplating this rather gloomy scenario I was heartened by one piece of positive news: three European bison have been released into a wood in Kent where the intention is to start a breeding colony.

Now to listen to English Nature and assorted wildlife wardens this spells the answer to all our problems. We are going to re-introduce bison and other species into our newly rewilded countryside and that in some way is going to open the door to a better way of doing things. Our troubles will all be behind us.

If you listen to the rewilders, farmland that is currently disfigured by growing crops will soon revert to wildflower meadows and juvenile woodlands offering opportunities of spiritual renewal to the urban population.

And don’t worry about the food, that will come from somewhere else.

Set against them, however, are the voices of common sense, including that of Countryside Alliance Wales, commendably demonstrating at this year’s Royal Welsh show against the Welsh government and large corporates buying up huge tracts of farmland for carbon-offsetting tree planting schemes – in essence merely a dodge to allow grossly polluting industrial processes to continue.

At some point I hope the Welsh and English governments come to their senses and realise that we cannot sacrifice another square metre of productive farmland while the threat to our food security is so huge – and growing.

Meanwhile, I shall continue to be puzzled over what benefits are being delivered by one rewilding scheme not far from me where land which was highly productive thanks to the efforts of generations of dedicated farmers has now been handed back to nature – in the process becoming home to what appears to be the National Collection of Docks and Thistles.

If you listen to the rewilders, farmland that is currently disfigured by growing crops will soon revert to wildflower meadows and juvenile woodlands