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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the long and short-term (a) financial and (b) environmental effect of the recent water shortages on farmers in Cumbria.

It is clear that the main impact of the recent drought conditions is likely to be felt by livestock farmers facing a shortage of fodder and that the full extent of the impacts may not be realised until later in the year. We have prioritised practical solutions to help farmers increase access to fodder and bedding both now and in the coming months. These actions will help farmers to limit the impact of extra feed costs by allocating land to forage growth and grazing, but we will keep the situation under review.

Observations and discussions with local farmers and partners in Cumbria indicates that there have been localised impacts on farmers during the driest period – particularly for those farmers on private surface water supplies in the uplands. This has most notably had an impact upon silage and winter feed grass crops, with a reduced number of ‘cuts’ this year. This is expected to place a greater burden on some farmers over this coming winter in terms of having to buy in feed.

It is also anticipated that some farmers within Nitrate Vulnerable Zones may need to seek permission to spread slurries outside of the closed period this winter. The Environment Agency (EA) will work with farmers on this on a case by case basis.