As temperatures soar, ‘exceptionally serious’ drought imperils UK farmers

Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom – Tom Pearson looks down at a crack in his own field, wide enough to plunge his fingers into.Beneath the stubble of a freshly combined oat crop on his Manor Farm in Caxton, near Cambridge, the ground has split, the soil having lost so much moisture that it has torn apart. A cover crop planted to shield the ground beneath the oats never really established before the early heat of this growing season arrived.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Tokyo lion deaths show heat wave gripping East Asialist 2 of 4As Spain grieves, recurrent heatwaves stir fears of further wildfireslist 3 of 4Central Europe sees record temperatures as heatwave continueslist 4 of 4Europe braces for another heatwave after record-breaking temperaturesend of list“It makes you wonder if it’s worth it,” Pearson said, looking out over the land his family has held since the 1680s. He then reconsiders. The cracks could have been worse – as in, he could have pushed his hand and forearm into them – if he had not spent the past 11 years trying to build resilience into this soil.No one is happy about this growing season in the United Kingdom and across Europe – neither the conventio...