Harvests and incomes hit by extreme weather

ENGLAND has seen its second-worst harvest on record, according to an analysis of Government figures.

- REBECCA SPEARE-COLE

Farmers have been reaping crops after the country's hottest spring and summer on record as well as the driest spring in more than 100 years, with five regions remaining in official drought.

Provisional data from the Environment Department suggests a much worse harvest than experts had so far predicted. The Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board estimated yields of 7.6 tonnes per hectare for wheat, 6.7 tonnes for winter barley, 5.8 tonnes for spring barley, 5.2 tonnes for oats and 3.7 tonnes for oilseed rape.

However, Defra's figures show yields to be lower than these estimates across all these crops with 7.0 tonnes for wheat, 6.5 tonnes for winter barley, 5.0 tonnes for spring barley, 4.6 tonnes for oats and 3.5 tonnes for oilseed rape.

This puts 2025 as the second worst harvest on record, according to an analysis of the Defra figures by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU).

It comes as the second poor harvest in a row after 2024, which saw heavy rain the preceding winter hitting production of key crops including wheat and oats. Three of the worst harvests on record have now been seen this decade, with 2020 seeing the worst year and 2024 now bumped into third worst place, the ECIU said.