Dry …
Farmers warn food shortages are just 10 days away – the signs suggest they’ve already arrived
As farmers sound the alarm about a growing food crisis, experts say that Britain’s food insecurity needs to be treated as a growing national emergency. Climate change and conflict are affecting fragile supply chains – the warnings are becoming impossible to ignore…
The Independent 22 July 2026
And here the dry spell continues.
The annual plants that dominate the vegetable garden aren’t supported by sufficiently robust root systems to carry them through and they struggle in our thin soil. Plants are stressed - and as a consequence don’t thrive.
Broad beans
Harvest 2025 9 kgs
Harvest 2026 1 kg
Last year we harvested over 200kg of tasty, wholesome organic food from our vegetable garden. The harvest lasted to May. Not this year. Little will be stored. No rain is imminent.
Broad beans (above) show the collapse in yields.
The leaves and stems of potatoes - ‘the haulm’ lie prostrate and are yellowing too soon.
I pull and twist the dried haulm and small potatoes spill onto the dry soil. Yields will be a fraction of last years’ crop.
The pattern will be seen across everything we’ve planted and inevitably my thoughts turn to those across our increasingly hot and arid earth who are subsistence farmers or who sell surpluses in local markets. The land and its’ produce are literally their life. This is the stuff of thirst, destitution and starvation and is an international calamity awaiting the arrival of news reporters.
Southern European farmers already feel the intense heat. Olives don’t thrive. Insufficient water. We rely on Spanish growers for a large proportion of our salad and vegetables. Their ability to grow food for our tables will be impacted considerably as growing conditions worsen with climate change.
The prediction is that within the forseeable future, the climate of southern France will be that of Algeria today.
I currently have the luxury of simply driving to my local supermarket when stores run out.
There are millions who can’t.
Weighing
In an abundant year the children help with weighing the harvest..
Will this be the future for our grandchildren?