British farmers face a £550m hit this year as heatwaves and drought lead to the worst harvest on record.
The UK was already forecast to suffer its most dismal year yet for farming, but figures published on Friday show it will be even worse than feared.
Key crops will yield only 18.5 million tonnes this year, down from a previous estimate of 19.5 million, according to Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) data.
The Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU), which analysed the AHDB data, said this would increase the financial blow to farmers from £390m in previous forecasts to £550m.
Scorching heatwaves and weeks without rain in parts of the country will make it the least productive harvest since detailed records began in 1984.
The bleak figures mean farmers will make £3.6bn from cereals and oilseeds – one third less than the average between 2014 and 2023, after adjusting for inflation.
Chris Jaccarini, a food economist at ECIU, said: “The outlook for this year’s harvest has gone from bad to worse.
“With this year’s unprecedented weather impacting all farming sectors – from meat to vegetables to grains – it’s clear that food production is on the front line of climate change.”
This year’s harvest, which is now 85pc complete, will be around 1.4 million tonnes smaller than the previous low in 2020.
The ECIU warned that as a result, four of the five worst harvests on record have occurred in this decade, including 2020, 2024 and 2025.
Britain has experienced exceptionally hot and dry weather, with very little rain in April and heatwaves in May, June, July and August putting crops under significant stress.