Richard Walker, managing director of a supermarket in Iceland, said there were fears the impact on food supplies could contribute to the cost of living crisis.
“This will not help, apart from the lack of Ukrainian harvest and general inflation throughout the supply chain,” he said.
Without significant rainfall in the fall and winter, farmers may simply choose not to plant crops next spring, Mr. Bradshaw said.
“Farmers will choose not to grow crops that require irrigation. If they don’t have that available water and contracts to give them a profitable return, they probably won’t take the gamble,” he said.
The Tory chairman of the Commons environment, food and rural affairs committee suggested the UK should focus on food production instead of “things like wildlife restoration”.
Sir Robert Goodwill, a former minister who is also a farmer, told BBC Radio 4’s World at One programme: “Part of the government’s plan for agriculture outside the European Union is helping farmers become more productive.
“I think we’re going to have to concentrate a bit more perhaps on food production and less on things like wildlife restoration and some of the environmental protection schemes, which while… important, we have to be sure that we can feed ourselves and the world.
“So, I think things like a grant for farmers who put in reservoirs themselves so they can pump in the winter when there’s water, so [they can] then use it for summer irrigation.
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