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

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) the soil moisture deficit in the South of England, and (2) the effect that is having on arable farm production.

The Environment Agency regularly monitors and reports on soil moisture deficit (a measure of how dry soils are) within its water situation reports:

Water situation: national monthly reports for England 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

(1) Soil moisture deficit is assessed on a weekly basis to track the recovery of soil moisture from the hot and particularly dry conditions earlier this summer. The latest assessment for the week ending 25 October 2022 for the southeast indicates that soil moisture deficits are now improving with the wetter conditions. This means that rainfall will start to penetrate and recharge the abnormally low groundwater levels developed through the drought conditions. However, it will still require above average rainfall this winter for groundwater and reservoir stocks in the southeast to fully recover.

(2) We are aware of the concerns around the dry conditions and lack of moisture in soil for autumn drilling, although rainfall was welcomed in September and October which has aided with the establishment of oilseed rape and the drilling of winter cereals.

We are keeping the situation under close review, including through the UK Agriculture Market Monitoring Group (UKAMMG), which was set up by Defra and the Devolved Administrations to monitor the United Kingdom’s market situation across all key agricultural commodities. We have also recently increased our engagement with industry to supplement our analysis with real-time intelligence.