After the long, hot dry summer which saw many parts of England under drought conditions, researches say they are looking at coming up with crops for the future that can withstand such stressful weather conditions.
Harper Adams University in Shropshire is working with the University of Warwick Crop Centre on the issue, as part of the government-funded Vegetable Genetic Improvement Network (VeGIN).
For Jim Monaghan, Professor of Crop Science: “We are growing crops in the most challenging conditions for generations.”
July 2026 was the driest for England and Wales since records began and the Met Office is warning that it is “very likely” that 2027 is the hottest year on record globally.
“Both the lack of rainfall and abnormally high temperatures are detrimental to crop production, because these stressful growing conditions reduce yields and quality,” Monaghan said.
To safeguard UK food security, experts believe new varieties of crops, able to better withstand these extremes of heat, need to be created.
Dr Andrew Beacham is the VeGIN lead at Harper Adams and said they were taking “beneficial features” from certain plant varieties that cope better in extreme weather conditions.
Older varieties are being examined by researchers along with what they call “wild relatives” of common vegetables.
They include lettuces which may have better heat tolerances or can cope with flooding, and breeding them with conventional vegetables.
This summer’s weather meant that farmers, Beacham said, were struggling with their existing varieties “to produce the same yield and quality as they have in previous years.
“We’ve seen things like increased reliance on imports of vegetables because UK producers have had lower yields.”
“That increases our reliance on imported food and reduces food security in the UK.”
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