Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of increasing heat risk to UK dairy farms on grazing land and silage production to feed livestock.

The Defra-funded Food, Farming & Natural Environment Climate Service led out of the Met Office has developed evidence on adaptation options which improve resilience of the agri-food sector, including cost and ease of implementation. These adaptation options include those which could be implemented in response to increasing heat risk to UK dairy farms such as using deep rooting and heat tolerant forage varieties.

The Government needs long-term, nature-based solutions to manage the risks of extreme wet and dry weather. To support rural communities and farmers, the Government is funding actions to improve the environment, mitigate flood risk, and boost resilience, through Environmental Land Management schemes.

Defra holds no data on potential impact of increasing heat risk to UK dairy farms on grazing land and silage production to feed livestock. However, Defra continues to work closely with the sector to monitor the production of grass and availability of silage as a feedstock.

The UK Government must prepare a UK-wide Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA) every five years under the Climate Change Act 2008.

The third CCRA assessed the risks to and opportunities for agricultural productivity from extreme events and changing climatic conditions such as increased temperatures and heat. The next assessment, CCRA4, is due to be published in 2027.