UK Drought: Getting Used to Strange Vegetables

Specialists say that vegetables and fruit in stores will be smaller and look different as the summer’s hot and dry climate impacts crops.

Carrots, Potatoes, Brussels sprouts, apples, and onions are prone to be the most affected.

Several locations of the UK have seen extremely low rain in 2022, and parts of England remain in drought.

The National Farmers Union (NFU) desires that supermarkets take more “wonky” crops and be flexible with farmers.

In Essex, farmer Sarah Green’s farmlands are dusty, and the grass crunches with every step.

Her products are, as she puts it: “alive, but not growing or thriving”. The hot summer sun made her sweetcorn delicious yet smaller than typical, and she needed to reduce her prices. Other crops in the ground, like cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, and broccoli, are stunted.

Furthermore, in Herefordshire, farmer Ben Andrews explains that his “nice green” cabbage and kale were outstanding up until a couple of days earlier. Now they’ve turned pale blue. They feel wrinkled and hard, no longer crisp and rich.

These crops are still in the fields; however, eventually, they will be what people get in grocery stores.

Smaller and harder produce

Professor of agricultural water management at Cranfield University Jerry Knox stated that it is hard to know the amount of UK produce that will die because of drought; however, “crop quality” will definitely be affected.

He includes the majority of potatoes will be smaller, with reduced quality skin and some defects.

Vegetables this autumn and winter “may not look normal, but will taste the same”, Tom Bradshaw, vice-president of the NFU, states.

He added, “Consumers have been conditioned to believe that a potato looks a certain way,” Mr. Bradshaw points out. To decrease the threat of additional price rises amid a cost of living crisis, “we need to be more relaxed about appearance”.

A representative for the British Retail Consortium (BRC) informed News that supermarkets already took odd-shaped crops.

Hannah Dougherty, Food Policy Advisor at the BRC, stated, “Retailers understand weather conditions have been a challenge and have taken steps to support their farmers. This includes expanding ranges of odd-size/shape fruit and veg when needed”.

In Essex, rainfall is all Sarah Green and her family discusses. This year they measured 107mm of rain. Their yearly standard was 525mm.

The “damage is done”

This dryness implies vegetables in the ground can not obtain the moisture they require to continue growing, so they grow slower and do not develop into their full size. The absence of water can make the skin harder or trigger defects as the crops are stressed.

Professor Jerry Knox explains that potatoes are incredibly susceptible to drought in the UK, where half the national crop is fed by rain.

Sarah Green explains that harvesting the potatoes will be an obstacle given that it’s probable to be challenging to get the harvester into the hard ground. It may create large clods that harm the crop or cut it into pieces.

Onions, parsnips, and Carrots will sufer the same impact in a comparable way to potatoes, Professor Knox states.

At this point in the summer, the “damage is done”, and even considerable rainfall is insufficient to fix the stressed potatoes, Professor Knox states.

Farmers are additionally concerned about brassicas like cauliflowers and broccoli planted in autumn. In several locations, it is feared the soil is too hard to cultivate, and seeds will not thrive in dry soil.

The compromise

The last drought in the UK was in 2018; however, rainfalls came in the nick of time to conserve most crops. Unfortunately, this year, the Met Office predicts a number of months of dry, hot weather.

Professor Knox says that farmers could decide to compromise some plantations to fully irrigate others. Collecting adequate water over the autumn and winter will be essential to prevent the impacts of drought lasting into 2023.

In the long-term, researchers alert that parts of England, especially the south-east, may come to be much drier because of climate change.

Farmers tend to adjust, and some have altered their crops, yet the unpredictability of UK weather makes it a risky bet.

Alastair Chisholm of the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management says that in the long-term, changes to farming methods like regenerative farming that assists soil reserve water and investment in storage for winter rainfalls may be a solution.

Originally published by: The BBC