British farmers lost 30% of their pea crop

A shortage of green peas is looming in the UK after an unusually dry spring and the hottest June on record. Farmers are reporting the earliest start to harvest in 14 years, with losses of up to 30% of expected output.

Growers in key regions – Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Suffolk and East Yorkshire – are being forced to harvest peas early as the soil dries out and the pods ripen rapidly, the BBC reports.

“We went out to the fields on June 4, which is incredibly early this year. The plants are exhausted, the soil is hard, the harvest is weak,” says Ian Watson, manager of Stemgold Peas.

The company grows peas on more than 1,400 hectares in partnership with 45 farms, but instead of the usual 6,000 tonnes, they plan to harvest much less. Many pods have only 2-3 peas instead of 10, the rest have dried up due to stress.

The National Farmers’ Union (NFU) has warned that unless there is heavy rain in the coming weeks, British peas could disappear from supermarket shelves.

“We have just 2.5 hours to pick the peas and freeze them. Because they ripen so quickly, we are physically unable to do so,” adds Birds Eye agronomist Tom Scritton.

The company harvests up to 35,000 tonnes of peas from more than 250 farms each year and is already considering introducing new, heat-tolerant varieties.

Despite the challenges, there is also a positive. Thanks to the abundance of sunshine this year, the peas have an exceptional sweetness, says quality specialist Michelle Laurie, who tastes up to 32 samples of the product every day.

But the climate challenges are only increasing. In 2023, farmers were also unable to plant crops on time due to an excessively wet spring. This demonstrates the unpredictability of the agricultural season and the need for adaptation.

Tags: crop forecast, pea, UK