Britain's 'exceptionally serious' drought tests a country famous for its rain
Lack of rain over half of England and all Wales exposes struggle with water shortages
Standing in a field on his southern England farm, James Baird pointed to the ground where the earth had split into deep fissures.
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earth → test → fissures
"You'd lose your arm down some of these cracks," Baird, a "nature friendly" crop farmer in West Sussex, said Tuesday.
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Baird → lose → Sussex
Baird, 56, has farmed for four decades, but he said he's never seen a summer like this one.
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he → farm → one
His cereal harvest finished weeks earlier than usual.
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harvest → finish → ?
"Most people would think, 'Oh, well, the U.K. is such a rainy place' … we're kind of famous for it.
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we → think → it
But in the past five years, the country has seen successive droughts, making it "difficult to deny patterns are emerging," Baird said.
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Baird → see → droughts
"This is by far the the driest summer that I've farmed in."
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I → farm → that
What is normally, by early August, a country defined by its lush countryside and patchwork of emerald fields has become parched after successive heat waves and weeks without rain.
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is → define → rain
Half of England and all of Wales are officially in drought after what the United Kingdom's Environment Agency described last week as an "exceptionally serious" dry spell.
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Agency → describe → spell
In July, England received just seven per cent of its average rainfall for the month.
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England → receive → month
Southern England received one per cent, with just 0.7 millimetres of rainfall.
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England → receive → rainfall
Britain is famous for drizzle, with its moody climate and an average of 135 precipitation days a year long considered a defining trait.
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climate → consider → days
"We're known as a temperate climate," said David Christensen, a dairy farmer in Oxford.
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Christensen → know → Oxford
"England's green and pleasant land," he added, repeating a well-known lyric from Hubert Parry's hymn Jerusalem.
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he → add → hymn
"But we may have to change our techniques."
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we → have → techniques
- FRONT BURNER
How extreme heat is changing Europe
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heat → change → Europe
Multi-year droughts are becoming hotter, lasting longer and causing more damage: study
This year's drought has not only called into question English ways of life, but has also renewed concerns over Britain's long-term water security.
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drought → become → security
The Environment Agency and water companies have estimated that by 2050 England faces a water supply shortfall of five billion litres a day.
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England → estimate → litres
It has also prompted fears over possible food shortages the National Farmers' Union has warned could be on the horizon.
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Union → prompt → horizon
The prolonged heat has scorched crops, shrunk rivers and canals and fuelled wildfires.
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heat → prolong → wildfires
More than 20 million people (roughly a quarter of the population of England and Wales) are under hosepipe bans — where water companies impose restrictions on the use of garden hoses, sprinklers and other similar watering devices with steep fines if broken.
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companies → impose → fines
The drought has also brought another danger for farmers.
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drought → bring → farmers
On July 19, Eleanor Gilbert was harvesting grain with her stepfather at Rookery Farm in Hampshire when she spotted flames in a neighbouring field.
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she → harvest → field
The pair grabbed fire extinguishers and raced toward the fire.
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pair → grab → fire
When that wasn't enough, they climbed back into the combine and began cutting around the flames to create a firebreak before firefighters arrived.
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firefighters → climb → firebreak
"It's almost becoming a new normal with this dry weather," Gilbert said of fires threatening farmland.
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Gilbert → become → farmland
Across England and Wales, firefighters responded to nearly 400 wildfires in July, making it the busiest month on record, according to the National Fire Chiefs Council.
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it → respond → Council
"We've had this triple whammy," said Claire Barnes, an extreme weather researcher at Imperial College London and a member of World Weather Attribution.
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Barnes → have → Attribution
Extreme heat has dried vegetation across much of Western Europe, she said, creating ideal conditions for wildfire.
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she → dry → wildfire
"There's a really clear causal chain going from heat to drying to flammability," Barnes said.
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Barnes → be → flammability
"Then it only takes a spark."
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it → take → spark
Gilbert, 24, said the increasingly difficult seasons are making her question her future in farming.
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her → say → farming
"I absolutely love it.
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I → love → it
But rising costs and the stress she sees her stepfather go through have made her question how she'll pay off her 80,000-pound ($150,000 Cdn) student debt, said Gilbert, who also runs a pumpkin patch and posts about life on the farm online as Berkshire Farm Girl.
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who → rise → Girl
"I do need to think carefully about what's coming."
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what → need → ?
Many, including Gilbert and her stepfather, and Baird, are trying to adapt by adding organic matter to their soils so they retain more moisture.
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they → include → moisture
Christensen, of Kingston Hill Farm in Oxford, said he is shifting from planting maize to wheat, which doesn't grow as quickly but is more hardy.
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which → say → wheat
"What we're doing at the moment is replacing efficiency with resilience."
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doing → do → resilience
Christensen said his cows are producing less milk this year, too, because of the stress of the heat and lack of grass to graze.
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cows → say → grass
The wetter winters are also taking a toll on them.
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winters → take → them
…and 12 more, not listed.
