Winemakers prosper but veg farms wilt in the drought

Image caption, Grapes in this Somerset vineyard are thriving in the sunny dry conditionsByDave HarveyWest of England business and environment correspondentPublished53 minutes agoUntil this year, Phil Collins, a Wiltshire vegetable farmer, had never had an overdraft. Six weeks without rain has scorched his cauliflowers, shrivelled his spuds, and shrunk his bank balance."Six thousand cauliflowers at £1.25 each," he said ruefully. "You do the maths."Veg farmers across the country are warning of a shortage of produce after the driest July for 190 years. But there are winners, notably winemakers."The vines love the warm, dry days," said Somerset winemaker Sandy Luck.So as the heatwaves and drought persist, who is thriving, who is struggling, and will farmers have to change what they grow in a warming climate?Image caption, A field of potatoes has shrivelled to nothing after six weeks of drought in WiltshireWalking between the vines in Sandy Luck's Aldwick Estate vineyard, you could be in Southern France, not North Somerset. The sun is out, again, and the grapes are plump and plentiful."We're getting nice ''veraison' here, look at that," she says, showing me a bunch where some of the young green fruit are turning purple, tinged with grey."We're ahead of the game this year."Winemakers love this summer. The long hot dry days have helped ripen the fruit and "keep disease at bay", as Luck puts it. There is a subtle shift too.More sun means more sugar in the grapes, which will mean higher alcohol content. This allows English winemakers to produce still red wines, where traditionally the cool climate had limited them to drier sparkling varieties."It makes a more rounded wine," Luck explained. "The quality is higher, and we have more variety we can make," she explained.Image caption, "Vines love the warm weather," explains Sandy Luck of Aldwick Estate VineyardSimply put, the South and South West of England are now frequently getting the kind of summers found in central France 20 years ago. So making French style wine is now possible, and Aldwick frequently win awards for their Somerset vintages.Hot summers also mean more wine. In 2025, English wine production was 55% up on the previous year.So could French weather mean French wine prices? English wine has always been more expensive than continental competition."Sadly not," Luck smiled. "We are a small team, our vineyard is just over 12 acres, and we are going for quality not quantity."Image caption, "The potatoes just can't cope with this dry weather," explained Wiltshire farmer Phil CollinsJust 50 miles from the thriving Somerset grapevines, Phil Collins shows me a much sadder sight."Six and a half thousand cauliflowers here, which have just basically cooked," he explained.The leaves are brown and crispy. Inside there are tiny cauliflowers, brown and dried up. We walk on, through a field of potatoes, the plants shrivelled to nothing and lying brown on the soil."This is Marfona, which is meant to be a drought resistant variety," Collins said."But this year has just been so dry, it couldn't cope with it. The plants should be two foot high and green - there's nothing left there."He and his team sell veg through farmers' markets, but still compete with supermarket prices. If he was to irrigate all his crops to keep them alive, the costs would be so high his cauliflowers, spuds and carrots would be far pricier than supermarket alternatives.He picks runner beans each morning, and is getting "about a third of the normal crop"."I've never had an overdraft in thirty years," he said. "This year has been so bad, we've no choice. We will get over it, but it'll take a while."Image caption, Southern England's climate is becoming much better suited to growing grapes than many traditional crops.Met Office climate scientists are clear: the heatwaves of 2026 are exacerbated by climate change, and the UK will see more hot dry summers more often. "We are seeing the emergence of new warmer climates," explained Mike Kendon, climate scientist at the Met Office.Farmers like Sandy Luck and Phil Collins know this, and are trying to plan.For vineyards, it is mostly good news. Well-tended vines sink deep roots, and the heat stress "is actually good for them, making them go deeper, and put out more grapes," explained Luck.But Phil Collins is wondering what plants to grow next year. "Pumpkins are a mediterranean crop, they should do OK, but even they have struggled this year with the dry," he said.He looked out across his fields of brown, scorched plants."I really just don't know what to grow if it carries on like this."Get in touchTell us which stories we should cover in SomersetContact formFollow BBC Somerset on Facebook, external and X, external. Send your story ideas to us on email or via WhatsApp on 0800 313 4630.Related topicsClimateUK heatwavesHeatwavesAgricultureBristolMore on this storyDriest July on record for England and Wales Published1 day agoHow cow showers and fans help farmers keep cattle coolPublished29 JulyCould heatwaves make your food shop more expensive?Published2 days agoClimate we had in 20th Century 'has now gone' - Met OfficePublished15 July