Heat raises costs and cuts crop yields for farmers

Farmers in Jersey say the hot summer weather has caused a number of problems this year, including significant reductions to harvests and mounting watering costs.

At the beginning of September, Jersey Met Office confirmed this summer was the warmest since records began in 1894.

Christine Hellio, from Manor Farm, said she had "never had to irrigate pumpkins to this extreme before". Meanwhile, producers of apples and cereals said their harvests were down 90% and 50% respectively.

Assistant Minister for Environment, Agriculture and Fisheries Kirsten Morel said the government was keen to speak to farmers and could look at reprioritising funds from its rural support scheme.

The Jersey Met Office said the average temperature for June, July and August was 20.5C (68.9F), compared to a 30-year average of 17.7C (63.9F) for these months.

It said the data was in line with evidence that climate change was driving hotter summers and increasing the likelihood of drier conditions.

Hellio, director of Manor Farms, said it was one of the businesses feeling the effect of the hot weather, which "had caused her a number of problems this year".

"I've never had to irrigate pumpkins to this extreme before... We'll still have pumpkins... but everything that we have grown this year has had to be irrigated a number of times over," she said.

Hellio said it meant an "added an extra expense on to every crop, as diesel has to be purchased to run the pumps".

"Nobody can control the weather, but this year has been such an extreme. Where can we get some help to cover this expense for growing the crop," she said.

Morel said the government was keen to "sit down with the farming industry and understand what impacts the drought has had".

Morel said the money in the Rural Support Scheme was a fixed amount, but they could look to "prioritise things differently" in consultation with the industry.

Le Tâcheron Farm in Trinity grows cereals for the likes of baking and bread-making, and farmer John Le Maistre said, despite a wet start, the "very hot and very dry" summer had taken its toll.

It was "noticeable that the grain size was smaller than it would normally be," he said.

Le Maistre said this year's harvest produced half the amount of cereals compared to previous years.

In the UK, the harvest of things such as cereal, oats and barley is said to be the worst since records began in 1984.

Adrienne Le Maistre, senior meteorologist and forecasting manager at Jersey Met, said, if the weather from recent years persists, it could challenge the notion that Jersey has a "northern temperate climate".

Le Maistre said it could "lead to a change in categorisation or how these categories are defined".

Regardless of the official designation, Le Maistre suggested that Jersey would continue to see "wetter, milder winters and hotter, drier summers".

Tim Crowley, of La Mare Vineyard in St Mary, described the summer weather as a "double-edged sword".

His apple orchards have seen the lowest crop for 50 years, producing "three or four tonnes of apples rather than the usual 60 or 70 tonnes".

Grapes had fared much better, but Crowley said "even for the vines, it's been too dry this year".

"We are seeing weather that's typical in Spain and the south of France, and we've never planted varieties for that climate... We base our planting on 30-year weather averages, but we're now looking at five-year averages because its changing that much and that quick," he said.

Cider producer Paul Mellor says it was a similar story in Guernsey, where Rocquette Cider has faced an "appalling harvest... about 80% down".

Guernsey also saw its hottest summer on record in 2026.

Mellor said a bumper crop from the previous year had carried them through, but "two bad years would be devastating".

Michael Bray, of the Guernsey Farmers Association, said 2026 had been an "incredibly challenging year for dairy farmers too".

He said: "This hot weather resulted in little to no grass growth with which to turn into winter food.

"As the fields turned from green to brown and record temperatures arrived, farmers have been forced to house cows and supplementary feed them over the summer months with silaged grass.

"[These are] The very stocks which should have been used to feed the cows through the winter months."

He added: "This, coupled with very little grass growth on island and poorer than normal maize crops, has left feedstocks for the winter months far lower on farms than required.

"Farmers have already begun importing feed from the UK which, with low availability across much of England due to their dry summer, has come with a premium price tag."

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