Extreme flooding puts food.security at risk, warns union

Fruit and vegetables will be in short supply with crop harvests severely hit as winter downpours become heavier in future, farm leaders have warned.

- JANE DALTON

Farmers will struggle to keep cattle fed because grass will be underwater for longer periods amid climate change.

Scientists from the World Weather Attribution study have concluded that climate change made rainfall during storms in the UK and Ireland 20 per cent heavier over the winter. The two countries suffered 13 to 14 severe storms in 2023-24, and in some places, farmland is still waterlogged.

Similar heavy rainfall is 10 times more likely in future, the experts say. Crops were left inundated, and cattle were taken indoors, being fed hay and silage instead of grass in winter’s record rainfall. The National Farmers Union warned of a drop in food available and its quality, with higher imports, because of the devastating flooding.