The risk of wildfires, water shortages, poor harvests and escalating fuel and fertiliser prices <\/a>have pushed many into financial difficulty<\/a> prompting calls for the government to provide emergency cash support. <\/p>\n Those in needs say they are struggling to access the government\u2019s Sustainable Farming Incentive, which was introduced to provide relief after the UK lost access to EU subsidies after Brexit and provides payments to farmers to sustainably improve their land. It was abruptly closed in 2025 due to overwhelming demand and only reopened in June to small farms under 50 hectares. <\/p>\n Andy Burnham<\/a> has been urged to \u201ccut the red tape\u201d facing farmers who want to build reservoirs to irrigate crops<\/a> and protect themselves against wildfires, with one farming organisation accusing the government of years of \u201cdiminishing direct financial support\u201d for the sector. <\/p>\n Martin Lines, an arable farmer in Cambridgeshire and CEO of the Nature Friendly Farming Network, said that the profitability forecast within farming for the next five years was looking \u201cterrible\u201d and warned that smaller family businesses were struggling to survive. <\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve had five years on the bounce now where weather has had a big impact on our cashflow and crops,\u201d he told The Independent. \u201cClimate change is coming quicker and harder than anyone else ever told us.\u201d<\/p>\n The 54-year-old, who runs his 165-hectare farm with his son, said they had been forced to make significant business decisions on how to manage their land ahead of next year. \u201cWe haven\u2019t made money for the last year few years from growing our crops, it\u2019s a heavy mental strain. We\u2019re just trying to cope with the lack of predictability in weather and our crop yields.\u201d<\/p>\n Farmers say recent high temperatures have created a \u201chairdryer\u201d effect, evaporating moisture in the air, causing heat stress to animals, impacting root vegetable growth and risking fruit and potato shortages. <\/p>\n Poor grain harvests are also driving up the cost of animal feed, with predictions that this could in turn push up the cost of meat as farmers are forced to reduce herd sizes.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (ADHB) has warned that milk production has already been impacted by the extreme hot weather, with production yields impacted by heat-stressed cows and poor conditions for grass grazing.<\/p>\n James McCulloch, head of feed at the Agricultural Industries Confederation (AIC) said that while farmers had enjoyed a decent silage season during the wet spring, the last six weeks have \u201cgone from bad to worse\u201d. <\/p>\n Many are now reliant on their winter feed supply, or are making challenging and costly decisions about purchasing supplementary feeds or keeping their livestock in sheds. <\/p>\n He called for better support within the planning applications system, to make it easier and quicker for farmers to build reservoirs on their land or to construct glass houses to protect food from the elements.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are a very resilient industry and I think if there is anxiety, it is about not being able to put in place the solutions and measures needed. <\/p>\n \u201cWe all know we need to conserve water, we\u2019ve got the capability of building reservoirs on farms but are we allowed to and is there support for that?\u201d, he said. <\/p>\n Following Mr Burnham\u2019s emergency Cobra committee on Wednesday, climate advisers urged the government to take steps to prepare the UK for worsening extremes by making it easier for farmers to build reservoirs. <\/p>\n \u201cNo farmer can stay in business between generations without protecting their soil and their crops,\u201d Gavin Lane, the president of the Country Land and Business Association said. <\/p>\n \u201cHowever, access to water abstraction and permission to build on-farm reservoirs remains costly and time consuming. This means farmers who want to invest are failing to collect abundant water in the winter, and then watching their crops shrivel and die in the summer. Eventually, that means less British food on our shelves and a higher price at checkout. <\/p>\n \u201cGovernment must act now and start with what we know already works: cutting red tape on farm reservoirs, giving land managers every tool to reduce wildfire risk and incentivising farmers to protect soil and water via adequate funding of the Sustainable Farming Incentive. <\/p>\n \u201cFarmers are resilient people. But resilience cannot mean absorbing year after year of losses. Eventually something will give.\u201d<\/p>\n Baroness Brown, who chairs the independent advisory Climate Change Committee\u2019s adaptation work, pointed to farmers warning of hits to milk yields and harvests, and the Europe-wide impact on food production likely to put up prices.<\/p>\n \u201cThe evidence is screaming at us that we have to do something,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n Mr Lines said that major retailers also needed to assess the resilience of their supply chain, while the government needed to make long-term commitments for funding in order to provide farmers with the confidence to invest in their businesses and their changing needs due to climate change.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I hear politicians and other people saying \u2018it\u2019s just natural warming and we can\u2019t do anything about it\u2019, the reality is that we can do something about it and we must do something about it <\/p>\n \u201cThe cost to the nation in the future is far more than investing in it now,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n Conservatives spokesman Ashely Fox said: “Labour\u2019s record farm closures and this year\u2019s extreme heat are pushing British farming to the brink. <\/p>\n \u201cThe Conservatives have urged the secretary of state to support farmers through this drought and take real action on bluetongue [virus, which is spreading faster this year with more midges infecting sheep] in the rather than providing more empty platitudes. Government must step up and deliver immediate help, starting with axing the Family Farm, Family Business, and Fertiliser taxes.”<\/p>\n A Defra spokesperson said: \u201cWe know how hard this summer has been for our farmers. We are working closely with farmers, the Environment Agency and the water sector during this exceptionally dry weather to find additional ways to support the sector.<\/p>\n “We are making it easier for farmers to build more on-site irrigation reservoirs and helping the sector build greater resilience to climate shocks through our farming schemes, the new Farming Roadmap and our work with the National Drought Group.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":102813,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2],"tags":[7492,8959,13,16534,6355,7387,43470,150,1374],"class_list":["post-103484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-britain","tag-aerial-view","tag-animal","tag-britain","tag-heat","tag-horizontal","tag-livestock","tag-livestock-farming","tag-weather","tag-welfare"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/117094019771144590","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103484"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103484\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Martin](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/[CO]-Martin-Lines-2025-1-resized-for-press.jpg\")
Martin Lines, an arable farmer from Cambridgeshire, has said the last few years have caused significant mental strain (Supplied)<\/p>\n![\"Farmers](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/2289154988...jpeg\")
Farmers and retailers have warned of food shortages and rising prices (Getty)<\/p>\n![\"Five](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/2282744623...jpeg\")
Five successive heatwaves have caused heat stress to livestock (AFP\/Getty)<\/p>\n