If ever agricultural and horticultural journalists are short of a story there is a fair chance that they can mine something when it comes to checking up on how crops are progressing with the weather.

Historically - and who is to blame them? - growers have always been somewhat reticent about reporting progress and appreciation of how their crops will perform, even as harvesting is taking place. As a result there are always published indications of potential tragedies, most of which have fortunately failed to materialise.

Often nature has a way of catching up, so what appears at one moment to be a disaster turns out to be only a passing phase by the time the pickers get into the orchard or the tractors roll into the fields, even if seasonal peaks may be later or earlier.

This year time again will tell, although at present there is no doubt over the concern of the lack of water, not just in the south of England, but on a far greater scale along the rim of the Mediterranean basin, where irrigation is a way of life.

Spain and Morocco are already showing distinct signs of stress at a time when they are still major European suppliers before the heat of summer arrives. Longer term, the drought may also have an effect on tree fruits right through to next year’s citrus crops.

One sense of consolation applied on a global scale is that sourcing covers a far wider area of the globe than even a decade ago, so the truly international approach by importers probably means that category managers are already studying the atlas in anticipation.

This may stand them in good stead in the years ahead, if the long-term predictions voiced most recently by Justin King of Sainsbury’s at the City Food Lecture prove to be accurate.

Hope, however, also springs eternal, although there may be a change in current seasonal patterns combated by the diligence of the plant breeders and growers who have been able to adapt accordingly - perhaps bringing in their wake the birth of new industries.

Evidence of what can be achieved under climatic hardship is already impressive. Countries, led by Israel - where there has been a permanent water shortage for years with every rivulet, well and puddle closely monitored - still to play an important role in the fresh produce export market.

It may be aeons before British apple growers can plant Granny Smiths, and even longer until pineapple plantations, coconut groves or date palms will be seen from the White Cliffs of Dover. But the English asparagus season has already broken its traditional seasonal shackles, everbearer strawberries keep going and there are now commercial orchards of apricots and kiwifruit in Kent. -

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