Proactive Investors - Britain’s recent wet weather could hit harvests over the coming year, threatening to drive up food prices once again, research has revealed.
Production of wheat, oats, barley and oilseed rape is set to fall by four million tonnes collectively this year, or 17.5%, against 2023, according to the Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU).
Against average crop yields between 2015 and 2023, this could stretch to an over one-fifth decrease of 21.2%, the researcher added.
“This winter has been unprecedentedly wet, coming at the end of the wettest 18 months in the UK since records began in 1836,” ECIU’s report read.
“This has had a significant impact on farmers’ cropping plans, with wet weather in the autumn preventing the drilling of winter crops, and ongoing wet weather in February and March preventing the establishment of spring sown crops.”
There is a “real risk” of the likes of beer, biscuits and bread becoming more expensive as a result, according to the researcher’s lead analyst, Tom Lancaster.
Food inflation came in at 4% in March this year, according to official figures, against 5% in February and as high as 19.2% in March 2023.
Wheat production, in particular, is set to face a blow, falling from an average of over 14.3 million tonnes between 2015 and 2023 to 10.2 million this year.
Winter barley production is also projected to fall, while spring barley and oat volumes should see an uptick.
The figures come after the National Farmers' Union recently warned extreme weather posed one of the greatest threats to UK food security.
“Moving faster to net zero emissions is the only guaranteed way to limit these impacts and maintain our food security,” Lancaster added.