Unseasonably dry conditions so far this autumn are leading to increased irrigation costs for potato and vegetable growers on a scale not seen in more than a decade.
A spokesperson for the National Farmers Union’s East office said: “We are seeing a lot of growers having to seek extensions to irrigation licences from the Environment Agency, which thankfully is adopting a sensible approach.”
Growers in Suffolk are obliged to irrigate their fields just to ensure potatoes can be lifted without bruising. Andrew Francis, vegetable production manager at Elveden Estate said: “The biggest impact for us is having to irrigate even on our soil types which are sandy loams. This is very unusual and we have not seen anything like it on this scale in Suffolk for more than 10 years.”
He also reported that although the dry conditions were ideal for bringing in the onion harvest, they had required more irrigation in the growing period. Carrots and parsnips have also needed irrigation for much longer.
Francis said: “Over recent years, August has been one of our top-three wettest months, but this year we had virtually no rain in August and into September. Irrigation costs are 150-200 per cent more than an average year, which really stretches your resources.”
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