Climate could change UK agriculture

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) believes UK agriculture could be significantly affected by climate change.

In its first Climate Change Risk Assessment report, it advises that rising temperatures, shifting rainfall patterns and an increase in extreme weather events could make sustainable food production a 'major challenge'.

However, warmer temperatures would encourage higher yields of existing crops and offer opportunities to increase production of fruit such as blueberries, which are currently grown only in small quantities.

Defra considered more than 700 possible climatic factors in producing the report, but concluded that it was too early to assess the impact of, for example, soil erosion.