These are ‘grim’ times for farmers in Berks and Bucks facing a ‘perfect storm’ of hot, dry temperatures at all the wrong times of year – causing poor yields and unwanted early harvests.

The Country Land and Business Association (CLA) has said this is ‘the worst harvest in years’, while the National Farners’ Union (NFU) warns the nation may face food shortages.

Dry conditions have caused crops to die back before fully ripening, meaning farmers had to harvest earlier and the quality of the produce was lower.

Locally, farmers report crop yields that are 50 per cent lower than usual. Lower yields can increase both food prices and reliance on imports.

Copas Farms Estate grows grains and oilseeds across farms in Cookham, Littlewick Green, Hedsor and beyond.

James Copas, its operational director, said this summer has been the first time it has ever finished harvesting in July rather than August.

The impact on yield has been significant; they would normally get around nine tonnes from each hectare, but drought conditions have reduced that to just over six tonnes. That is roughly a 31 per cent drop.

Moreover, problems continue – farmers cannot currently cultivate anything, because the land remains too dry.

“The only cultivation we’re really doing is creating firebreaks,” said James.

Things have been so challenging, Copas is planning to take part of its land out of production.

Parcels of land with lower soil quality are less resilient to drought, and the cost of attempting to grow crops there outweigh the income from the yield.

“We’re just losing so much money,” said James. “We hope [the arrangement] will be a temporary thing, but if it carries on like this, it could end up being permanent.”

J Rayner & Sons Ltd runs Stubbing Farm in Burchetts Green Lane, among other farms in the area. Its director Colin Rayner said they had to harvest so early, they were finished for the year before they would normally start.

“My take away from this harvest [is] we don’t talk about this year’s yields,” said Colin.

Randall Farms grows cereals and other crops in Marlow. Andrew Randall, its director, described the situation as ‘the perfect storm’ with the record-breaking temperatures in May ‘absolutely ruining’ yield prospects.

“We had about 10 weeks of near drought and then a week of 33 degrees in the middle of flowering and grain set [a critical stage of their development], which just decimated the yield potential of crops,” he said.

“Then we had that other heatwave in June, which really finished things off.”

The spring crops suffered the worst because, once planted, they only have about four months to grow, and three months of that was ‘compromised.’

“We need our average yields to break even in the current economic climate, so to be 30-40 per cent down on the winter crops and 50 or 60 per cent down on the spring crops, it’s basically all loss this year,” said Andrew. “It’s been pretty grim.

“I think we’re all hoping that this is a blip, a 1976 kind of extreme scenario.

“Certainly, it’s brought forward the need to address what we are realistically able to grow if we get similar weather events going forward.”

The farmers generally feel not much can be done for them, outside of trying their best to adapt.

By contrast, the NFU has some ideas; it says growers ‘urgently’ need secure, reliable access to water.

Among other things, the NFU has suggested flexible abstraction licences (a permit for taking water from the environment) and streamlining the planning system to make it faster for farmers to build water storage infrastructure.

CLA South East regional director Tim Bamford said: “This is the third drought in five years.

“What was once extraordinary is becoming part of farming in Britain, and Government must start planning for it.

“Farmers prove time and time again that they are adaptable and can provide the solutions, but they aren’t invincible. They need to be valued now more than ever.”