The effects of climate change on farming

There can be no denying the change in climate that has taken place over recent years. According to the Met Office, the UK is warming at a rate of 0.25OC per decade and all the top ten warmest years have occurred since 2002. In 2022, the first temperatures of above 40OC were recorded in Britain, in Coningsby, Lincolnshire.

But it’s not just rising average temperatures that are marking the progression of climate change – many of the severe impacts come from the rise in extreme weather events. Unprecedented heatwaves, rainfall leading to intense flooding, and increased windspeeds are all having significant impacts on communities across the country.

So, what does this mean for UK agriculture, resilience, food security and British farmers?

Certainly, farming practices will need to adapt to the change in the climate if the industry is to survive and continue feeding a hungry nation. In this article, we look into what some of those changes might be.

Warming temperatures, caused by rising atmospheric greenhouse gas emissions, are causing significant challenges for primary food producers.

Some figures suggest almost 80% of UK farmers have reported increased incidents of severe weather such as droughts and flooding. Flooding in particular, at key planting times, can have the catastrophic effect of preventing farmers from sowing crops at all – something which blighted the spring 2024 planting season. But the problems do not end when the crops are in the ground. Severe weather events contribute significantly to yield reductions which can be as high as 30% in carrots and 40% in onions.

Increasing temperatures are also having an impact on soil health by reducing moisture levels. Rising temperatures are helping new pests to become established, which also impacts on plant health and yield.

But it’s not just cropping where the effects of climate change are being felt. Rising temperatures increase cases of heat stress in animals and may reduce immune response and disrupt the metabolic system – impacting daily liveweight gain and milk yields. An increase in fly and other parasite burdens often follows hotter weather, enabling livestock diseases to flourish.

Forage quality also declines during severe weather, compromising animal fertility, productivity and growth.

So, if climate change is impacting on British farming to such a great extent, how are practices changing to mitigate these challenges?

These fall into a number of categories, including:

• Water and irrigation management
• Regenerative approaches to crop production
• Livestock and pasture management
• Technology and data use

Severe weather events are on the rise due to climate change. So, whereas rainfall was previously, to an extent, more predictable, now it is often marked by long periods of drought followed by more intense rain and flooding.

Under these conditions, effective water management is more important than ever before. The ability to conserve water during periods of drought and remove water from flooded fields can be the difference between a successful crop and not.

Improving drainage helps to prevent waterlogging and flooding. Alongside it, investment in soil health is important so more water can infiltrate and be stored through the soil’s profile, helping to manage flood and drought risks simultaneously.

During times of drought, having water available for irrigation is crucial. Rainwater harvesting is important, particularly from glasshouse roofs. On-farm reservoirs are vital to collect and store rainwater, allowing farmers to switch from summer abstraction when the river is at low flow to abstraction during high-flow conditions, also helping to manage flood risk.

While regen, or regenerative farming, has become a divisive term to some in agriculture, many farmers have adopted approaches or techniques to make their businesses more sustainable and climate change resilient.

This includes low, min, and no-tillage techniques which are becoming more popular in cropping to improve soil health.

The use of cover crops and catch crops is mainstream, helping to reduce nutrient and soil loss, fix nitrogen and support year-round soil biological activity. They also increase soil organic matter which enhances the water-holding properties of the soil, reducing run-off and retaining water better for the growing crop.

As temperatures continue to rise, some farmers are turning to completely new, warm-season crop varieties to add value to their business such as soya, sunflowers and grain maize. Additionally, vineyards are now mainstream in England, producing award-winning wines.

Rising temperatures can have a significant impact on livestock, particularly in the case of heat stress, which results in lower daily liveweight gains, meaning productivity slips.

Excessive temperatures can also lead to the immune and metabolic systems becoming compromised, which can produce serious infections. Pest, parasite and pathogen burdens can also increase as the temperature rises, causing other potential threats to livestock.

Physical measures can be taken to manage these issues, including extra shading and shelters for animals at grass, and improved ventilation in barns. Technology is increasingly providing solutions to these problems too. Monitoring technology, which sends alerts to a farmer’s phone or laptop, can identify the signs of heat stress or other conditions early, allowing for quicker interventions which usually result in better outcomes.

To build resilience into forage supplies, many farmers are replacing traditional grass leys with herbal leys. These tend to produce deeper roots that make forage more resilient to drought.

While farming adapts to climate change, there are likely to be some negative impacts on food security. Without investing in adaptation, food security is likely to be compromised. Reduced crop yields due to severe weather events could lead to food scarcity and drive price volatility. Poor soil health is likely to exacerbate the problem and, as temperatures continue to rise, poor water availability will become increasingly acute.

Climate change is also playing havoc with forage production and quality for livestock producers. Elevated atmospheric CO2 levels are associated with lower-nutrient, lower-protein forage because it causes grasses to grow more quickly and decrease palatability, meaning reduced productivity for meat and dairy animals. This can mean farmers are forced to buy expensive supplements or forage conditioners, making livestock production even less profitable.

Climate change is having a global impact and therefore all countries in the UK will experience warmer, wetter winters, hotter summers with increased drought risk and more frequent severe weather events.

However, the precise effects of climate change will vary for different regions. England, particularly the south of England, will become more vulnerable to heatwaves and drought, and in coastal areas of the East Anglia and the South East, sea-level rise and coastal erosion.

Wales, by contrast, is expected to see more storm activity with some estimating a projected 30% increase in extreme rainfall events over the coming years.

Lying further north, some of the impacts of climate change may be less acute than in the rest of Britain. Higher rainfall is likely in the west of the country, but the risk of drought is lower than that further south.

This change will place a significant burden on agricultural production and water management will be key to successful farming.

While climate change presents major challenges, innovation in agriculture doesn’t stand still. Solutions are being devised by and for UK farmers to adapt to future conditions.

These solutions range from altering crop rotations to include more spring crops (such as spring oats and barley), to switching to alternative crops that thrive in warmer conditions (like maize or soy) and making use of technical innovations (such as developing heat-resistant strains of wheat).

Breeding programmes are also focusing on developing plant strains with deeper root systems to aid water uptake, helping crops to develop even in drought conditions. In livestock production, there is a shift towards some native breeds with higher feed efficiencies and an ability to cope with changeable weather conditions, as well as outwintering.

Breed programmes looking at producing animals with a lower carbon footprint are also enjoying some success, with forecasts suggesting this approach will reduce livestock methane emissions by 9.5% by 2045. Rotational and mob grazing approaches are helping to restore soil health and fertility, improve parasite management and increase drought resistance.

New solutions to animal health are helping farmers to adapt to changing environmental conditions. Digital monitoring technology is developing at a fast rate, enabling producers to identify heat stress in animals before clinical signs appear, allowing for early intervention. The same systems can accurately identify heat events to optimise fertility rates.

With advances in vaccinations against some of the most prevalent livestock diseases, livestock health and productivity is likely to improve over the coming years despite the impacts of climate change, helping British farmers to continue producing high-welfare, sustainable meat and dairy in a profitable way to meet consumer demand.

There is no doubt that climate change is already having significant impacts on farming in the UK.

With rising temperatures, rainfall and severe weather events, every aspect of cropping is affected, from getting into the field to till the soil and sow crops, to soil and plant health, and yield. Higher temperatures are also causing issues for livestock farmers, with growing parasite and pathogen burdens, greater incidence of heat stress, and even disruption to the immune and metabolic systems.

But since its inception, agriculture has evolved and adapted to the prevailing conditions. While the industry may be subject to short-term disruption, it is already changing to meet future challenges.