'The effects are profound' says local farmer as the Midlands officially enters drought
It's been the driest start to a year since 1976.
The East and West Midlands have become the latest areas of England to fall into drought as the country struggles with the driest start to the year since 1976.
The move comes in the wake of summer heatwaves and the hottest June on record, driving unusually high demand for water, the Environment Agency said.
The declaration of drought status for the East and West Midlands means the region joins Yorkshire, Cumbria and Lancashire, and Greater Manchester, Merseyside and Cheshire, which are already in drought.
Overall, it has been the driest start to the year since 1976 for England, and reservoir levels continue to fall, with storage across the country at 75.6%.
The drought declaration for the Midlands, where some river flows are at their lowest for June since 1976, came after the latest meeting of the National Drought Group- with the situation deteriorating since the group last met in early June.
Water companies are being told to follow their drought management plans as well as step up work to fix leaks, while the public are also being urged to use water wisely across England and comply with any local restrictions as the dry weather continues to impact water resources nationwide.
Anglers, wild swimmers and boaters are also being urged to report any environmental issues they see, such as fish in distress in low water conditions.
Meanwhile, farmers are taking every precaution to ensure their livestock and crops aren't damaged in this unusual climate.
Rob Davies- who runs a number of dairy and arable crop farms across the Midlands, mostly in Herefordshire near Ross-On-Wye- tells us they knew this was coming.
"As a farmer, we didn't need it to be announced to know we're in a drought.
"To put it into context, we would expect between 700 to 800mm of rain a year.
"In the last four and a half months- since the start of February- we've had just 100mm of rain, which is almost nothing, and the effects of that are profound on the agricultural industry."
"For instance, you'll see a lot of maize grown around our region, and we would expect it to be between 8 and 10 foot tall.
"This year it's 6 foot tall at best and some of it has failed significantly.
"We would normally be expecting 4 and a half tons of cereal to the acre- we've struggled to hit 3.
"We'd expect 5 bales to the acre of straw and we've had half of that.
He says, as a result, some of your favourite local produce may not be as readily available this year.
"Cereals are a globally-traded commodity, so unless we have a drought worldwide- which we might do- the impact won't be seen.
"However, the smaller, more niche fruit-and-vegetable type growers that you see selling in farm shops, unless they have access to irrigation, there could be a significant shortage."
"But at the end of the day, the weather is the weather, and there really is nothing we can do about it."
Rob's also chairman of the NFU's Midlands' Dairy Board- sitting on the National Board for the NFU.
He insisted that, in this climate, their biggest priority is the welfare of their animals.
"Our cows wear a collar so we can keep an eye on their heat stress.
"So we've been monitoring that very, very closely, and they've been fairing very well inside.
"However, the ones outside aren't doing as well.
"We've had to open up other fields and decide what shade we can offer them to get through this climate."