Farmers and growers praying for rain after dry conditions

SUNSHINE hasn’t been in short supply this spring, and three cheers for that, but prolonged dry conditions in the UK have led to a “medium” risk of a drought this summer without sustained rainfall, the Environment Agency has said.

- RICHARD YOULE

The agency is encouraging water companies to do more to safeguard supplies after the driest start to spring in England in 69 years.

Welsh Water is urging people to be careful with their use of water.

The picture varies considerably - less rain throughout the east and the south-east of the UK, whereas south-west England and south-west Wales experienced some heavy downpours in April after a dry March.

Carmarthenshire dairy farmer Dai Gravell said: "Am I worried right now? I’m not losing sleep. We need a splash of rain, and if we get it we'd be all right until the end of the month, and we can worry about it then."

Mr Gravell, who farms 500 acres in Kidwelly, contrasted the exceptionally wet spring of 2024 to spring this year and said he'd noticed the frequency and extremity of such shifts becoming more pronounced.

"You've got to factor that in to your strategy, the way you farm, your infrastructure," he said. "What is your B plan? You've got to adapt."

Mr Gravell said the dry spring weather had led to a very good lambing season and allowed crops to be drilled early, although they were a bit slow coming up.

He has got his cows out grazing earlier than normal. "The conditions have been superb," he said. "There is a lot of milk."

But the 62-year-old said the rain that had fallen had been "just in time" and that too much longer without it would be a problem.