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

To ask His Majesty's Government what help they are giving to ensure that farmers can access the water they need this winter to give them confidence to plant next year’s crops.

Through Defra and the Environment Agency (EA) we are working closely with agricultural sector groups, including the National Farmers Union (NFU), to support farmers to fill farm storage reservoirs this autumn and winter. The EA has a package of measures in place to support farmers through Local Enforcement Positions to allow abstraction beyond their licence conditions. These include taking high flows, when available, to start early refill of storage reservoirs; working with water companies to share their supplies to help farmers; prioritising abstraction licence applications associated with storage reservoir grant applications; encouraging farmers to review water needs and vary licences now to improve their resilience for next year.

Agricultural representatives, including the NFU, are members of National Drought Group (NDG), which is regularly meeting and has contributed to understanding the risks for agricultural production and has agreed actions to reduce the impacts. The NDG met on 14^th October 2022 to discuss the prospects for winter recharge, potential for drought conditions in 2023 and actions to help different sectors, including agriculture. My colleague, Trudy Harrison attended the meeting, highlighting the importance of this issue to HM Government. The next meeting will be on 28 November 2022.