Farmers in Rutland say they're struggling to grow crops due to a long dry season
It's as England is facing a risk of summer drought following the driest start to spring in 69 years
Farmers in Rutland say climate change will have a huge impact on the food supply.
It's as England is facing a risk of summer drought following the driest start to spring in 69 years with farmers struggling to grow crops.
Climate change, when it comes to our food system, is going to have a significant impact
The Government's national drought group is meeting on Wednesday, with ministers, senior officials from the Environment Agency, water companies and other groups set to discuss the risk of drought without sustained rainfall.
Rainfall was well below average for most of the UK in April, the sunniest on record for the month, with just 56% of expected totals recorded across the UK as a whole, and just half the average rainfall for England, Met Office figures showed.
And March saw just 43% of its average rainfall across the UK, with England getting a quarter of the rain it would normally expect for the month.
Across England, reservoirs are 84% full - compared to 90% at the end of April in the 2022 drought year.
Reservoir levels are either notably low or exceptionally low across the north east and north west of England, which have had their driest start to the year since 1929.
Farmers have had to start irrigating crops early, with more pressure on their onsite storage reservoirs.
We are all going to have to get used to not having the ready availability of food we're used to
Joe Stanley from Rutland's National Farming Union said:
"Climate change, when it comes to our food system, is going to have a significant impact in the coming decades."
"The reality is that with an increasingly uncertain climate, we are all going to have to get used to not having the ready availability of the wide range of food we have become used to because the climate is shifting."
"It's really important that here in the UK we are doing everything we can to build resilience into our food system and make sure that from year to year these extreme weather events have as small an impact as possible."