Extreme weather puts pressure on Suffolk's vineyards
Wine growers are fighting to protect their crops from the extreme heat
Heatwave conditions across the UK are causing issues for farmers with crops drying out and livestock struggling for food in barren fields.
Winegrowers are no different and vineyards in Suffolk are now facing tough choices about how to best protect their crops from extreme heat.
A recent study from the UEA found that extended periods of hot sunny weather are likely to make the East more favourable for wine growers in the long term.
However extreme temperatures - like those seen last week - can damage or kill off crops
Father and daughter team Hans and Amanda Engstrom run Mount Farm Vineyards near Sudbury, which produces Ark Wines.
The site is set over 6 hectares of land, with more than 20,000 vine plants in the ground.
Amanda told us: "Obviously there's a lot more extreme weather at the moment, especially in the last few months.
"We've had a lot of really dry weather, which normally in England, you wouldn't need to, irrigate or think about irrigation because we have a lot of rainfall, which is mostly normal in England.
"But, recently around the area it's been extremely dry.
"And so we've even had conversations about if we needed to irrigate this year.
"That's kind of brought up conversations about whether we would need to irrigate in the future and really start thinking about planning for years like this in the future."
Amanda went to Plumpton College near Brighton to study wine making for 2 years. She told us the college is now teaching its students about global warming.
"We covered a lot of aspects, about wine making and, and viticulture.
Sample of Ark Wine, the vineyard behind
Sample of Ark Wine, the vineyard behind
"And although it wasn't a big part of the, the course itself, there was definitely some seminars and lectures about global warming.
"And climate change as its kind of inevitable. So it's something that working in viticulture, you need to be aware of, that things are changing.
"And you need to be kind of clued up on all the technology that there is to help with the weather that's changing.
"And just to think about wine making in England in a different way than what you might have."
"It's hard to decide on what to put your money into and what's needed to protect your crop."
Hans told us, at Mount Farm Vineyards they try to be as sustainable as possible.
"We changed most of our machine park over to battery. So we can recharge the batteries without any, without fossil fuel and just electric.
" We recharge that in the winery, on which we have, I think about sixties, solar panel. So we draw about 20 kilowatts off that.
"Which means that we can run the whole, the whole business. in a sustainable way."
"It is in everyone's interest really. I mean there are plus and minuses as a wine grower and producer. Pluses that we probably can make slightly better products and more of it, all be different.
"But when the big scheme there, the whole climate change, obviously isn't, isn't favorable for anyone.
"And you just have to think about your family, children, grandchildren, and the future to realise that."