Farmers desperate for rain after rapid record harvests

The period between January and June this year was the driest in England since 1976, according to the Met Office, followed by the driest July since 1911.

The prolonged hot, dry spell has ripened East Anglia's wheat and barley grains ahead of schedule, with no rain delays, allowing some farmers to complete their cereals harvest earlier than ever before.

Cracked dry earth in a stubble field at Tim Barrell's farm near Shipdham (Image: Tim Barrell)

But it has curtailed grass growth in parched pastures, forcing livestock farmers to buy in extra animal feed or tap into their winter supplies, adding to the financial pressures at a time of steeply rising prices.

And there are major concerns for arable crops still in the parched ground - including onions, maize and sugar beet - unless some desperately-needed rain falls soon.

Matthew Hawthorne is farm manager at the Euston Estate near Thetford, which completed the earliest-ever finish to its cereals harvest on Tuesday.

Matthew Hawthorne, farm manager at the Euston Estate, near Thetford (Image: Sonya Duncan)

He said the quality of the grain was "amazing", with all wheat hitting the high specifications for milling - but the yields had suffered, at only about two-thirds of their full potential.

"The yields are a long way down on our potential," he said. "But it is better than I expected, because I didn't expect the quality to be so good.

"My main concern at the moment is that one reservoir is empty and the other is nearly empty and the borehole is coming to the end of its licence.

"We have still got onions that need irrigation and potatoes that need water to get them out.

"And the maize is absolutely terrible. It is only up to your knee, and its brown. The better crops are tasseling really early which means it is developing its cob when the plant is half its normal size. So the maize yield is already going to be seriously hit.

"The sugar beet has got a longer recovery time, but these are worrying times.

"No-one knows what the damage is going to be, and when it is going to rain again. But if we get a dry August as well without any rain it will be an absolute disaster."

The dry weather has illustrated a phenomenon known as "Breckland stripe" at Euston, with bands of chalk holding water nearer the surface and closer to plant roots, creating strips of healthier green crops among the drier, yellowing maize.

'Breckland stripe', showing the impact of bands of chalk under heat-stressed maize crops at the Euston estate near Thetford (Image: Matthew Hawthorne)

While fire crews remain on alert for wildfires in the continued hot, dry weather, Mr Hawthorne said the completion of the cereal harvest - and the removal of combines and combustible grains and straw from the fields - has lowered his concerns over the risk of farm blazes.

"The lack of water is the over-bearing concern," he said. "Everything we are doing from now on is engaging the soil so, for me, fire risk has dropped off the radar, apart from someone torching a stack of bales or doing something silly.

"The field activities from here on will not be a source of ignition.

"The combines and the balers are the main worries there, and although you can get fires in stubble fields you need a lot of heat to burn just stubble - the danger is the standing crop because it is well ventilated and catches fire very easily."

Tim Barrell, who farms at Shipdham, near Dereham (Image: Tim Barrell)

Tim Barrell, who farms at Shipdham, near Dereham, also completed his earliest-ever finish to harvest on Thursday evening.

"I have never been finished in July before, the weather has been crazy," he said.

"We had two nights where we were going out at 2am to get the oilseed rape, because that was the dampest part of the morning."

Despite the weather, he said he was surprised by his wheat yields, adding: "The grains are not as big as I would hope them to be, but considering we have had a drought I am more than happy."

Combine harvester in action at Tim Barrell's farm at Shipdham, near Dereham (Image: Tim Barrell)

But the next challenge will be cultivating the hard-baked ground for the next crop.

"Now we have got the wear and tear on the metal to plough the ground up for the next crop," said Mr Barrell.

"If it stays so dry we will be wearing metal out, and the cost of metal has gone through the roof.

"I want to get some fields cut with a disc cultivator to get the seeds to chit (germinate), but that won't happen with no moisture. So we seriously need some rain to move forward."

Drought-stressed maize crops on the Euston Estate near Thetford (Image: Matthew Hawthorne)