Britons will struggle to put food on table as heatwaves become the norm, scientists warn

Climate scientists have warned that Britons could struggle to put food on the table within a few years as heatwaves increase and harvests continue to fail.

Oxford University professor Paul Behrens has called on the government to take action against the food security “crisis” he says the UK is facing, saying extreme weather events will continue to send food prices soaring.

His message came amid a heatwave in the UK that has broken several records and prompted experts to issue dire warnings about increasingly frequent extreme heat events.

“Farmers are dealing with an endless array of truly extreme rain, heat, drought and storm events, all of which impact the way we grow food,” Mr. Behrens said. Independent.

“We saw that the yield in the country first stagnated and then decreased. We see that farmers have difficulty feeding animals during floods, because if the animals cannot go to pasture, they have to buy and feed them in winter.”

The tipping point could come within a few years, he said, and the poorest people will be the first to suffer.

A report by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit found that three of the five worst grain and oilseed harvests on record in the UK this decade occurred following extreme weather conditions.

The think tank also found that one-third of food price increases in 2023 will be due to climate change.

Mr Behrens said he had already seen many foods affected in the UK, including maize, beef, olive oil, cocoa and coffee, but he expected climate change to eventually affect inflation for all foods.

He accused the government of not taking the issue seriously enough or acting with the urgency it believed was necessary.

“We need to eat more plants; this is true in terms of the effects of climate change, but also in terms of resilience,” he added. “We need to reduce our waste and increase our efficiency.

“We need more food resilience policy and nutrient resilience policy at the local, regional and national levels, and this needed to happen yesterday.”

When harvests failed during the 1976 heatwave, the UK could rely on imports from abroad, but extreme weather events were likely to affect multiple food-producing regions simultaneously in the future, he added.

A Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs spokesman said: “We will always protect this country’s food security and support British farmers to create a sustainable future for farming.

“Just yesterday, this government set a clear direction for a sustainable agricultural sector by 2050. This is the first time a long-term government plan for farming has been created, let alone at the heart of resilience to climate change.

“We are also investing billions of dollars in developing new technologies to increase yields and developing climate-resilient crops to help farmers produce more food.”

The plan includes an extra £53 million for the farming innovation programme; It will take total funding for this year to £123 million and set aside specific cash for robotics, soil health and water management.

The government also plans to work with the industry to develop sector growth plans in areas such as horticulture and poultry, support collaborative models such as cooperatives and reduce EU trade disputes that hinder exports by striking a new deal with the bloc.

The government added that Britain produces around 65 per cent of the food Britons eat, while international trade supports domestic production to strengthen food security against risks such as adverse weather conditions and disease.

Paul Tompkins, deputy chairman of the National Farmers’ Union, said: “British agriculture may look little different to what it did in the 1970s, but extreme weather conditions such as the 1976 drought are becoming more frequent and more severe.

“78 percent of farmers and ranchers say they have seen an increase in the frequency of severe weather events in the past 10 years. The reality is that fields that produce wheat for the nation’s bread may be flooded one year, dry and cracked the next. Livestock fields are turning from floods to scorching conditions, with little grass growing to feed the cows and sheep that make up our landscape.”

Hayley Fowler, professor of the impact of climate change at Newcastle University, said: “Few people remember the failed summer harvests, rising food prices, widespread bushfires and heat-related illness and death suffered by many people during the 1976 heatwave.

“On the 50th anniversary of this iconic event, we are showing the public that if we do not rapidly reduce fossil fuel emissions and adapt our schools, homes, hospitals and workplaces to cope with the extreme heatwaves we face, these impacts will become part of normal life for decades to come.”