The number of flood warnings on England’s best farmland during the winter hit a record high of over 1,000, exceeding the previous record by a fifth.
A total of 1,008 flood warnings were issued by the Environment Agency for grade 1 and 2 farmland, the most productive land, up from a previous high of 775 during the winter of 2019-2020.
Flood warnings indicate that flooding is ‘expected’ in an area. As well as this, 3,344 flood alerts were issued on grade 1 and 2 land, which indicate that flooding is ‘possible’.
This again is an all time high, smashing the previous winter record of 2,808 set in 2019-2020.
The UK saw its second-wettest October to March period on record, and the amount of rainfall on the stormiest days increased by about 20% on average.
Tom Lancaster, farming analyst at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU), said farmers had been hit hard by extreme weather linked to climate change over the winter.
"It’s clear now that climate change presents a systemic risk to our best farmland, and therefore our food security," he warned.
“With much of England’s best farmland low lying and in flood plains, the increasing likelihood of extreme weather that climate change brings presents an outsized risk for UK food production."
Grade 1 farmland covers around 355,000 hectares, or 3.1% of all agricultural land in England, and grade 2 covers 1.8m hectares, or 16% of farmland.
Despite its small area, grade 1 in particular is vital for sectors such as horticulture, as it is particularly well suited to fruit, winter vegetables and salad crops.
These are the highest value crops produced by British farmers, but sectors where self-sufficiency is low at just 16% for fruit and 53% for vegetables.
When considering just grade 1 farmland, the best land used for high value crops such as vegetables, bread wheat and potatoes, over 11% was hit by at least one flood warning over winter.
Colin Chappell, a farmer from Lincolnshire, whose farm was hit by two flood warnings and nine flood alerts, said the winter was the worst he can remember.
"[It] fills me with dread for what climate change might mean for my business and our industry," he said, "On our farm, we’ve struggled to get crops in the ground, with fields flooded and soils saturated.
“Climate change is hitting farmers like me here and now, and affecting our best farmland more than most."
