Plowright said things are going “very badly” this summer for his field crops – half of those planted in July were lost, including winter brassicas, savoy cabbages and cauliflowers.
“It’s not just the lack of rain it’s the temperature – some crops died from the heat before we got water onto them.”
His farm has lost all its parsnips and celeriac, with early crops of broccoli and sprout plants looking very stunted.
“We’re desperate for rain and we hope there’s enough time, light and temperature left in the year to bring these plants on, so we can all have sprouts for Christmas,” he said.
“We are looking at different planting systems in the future which will protect the soil from high temperatures.”
Sam Pociecha, an agronomist who advises farmers, said crop yields are down by an average of 25% across the south of the UK.
“This is the first year I’ve known where things not just here in the UK but elsewhere in the world, [with] geopolitical issues or weather patterns like El Nino, where we could actually see a big impact on prices locally.”
He added that despite being impacted by global market forces, farmers are “amazingly resilient”.