Welsh Farmers Embrace Borehole Investment Amid Drought Conditions

TWO farming councillors from Swansea said investing in a borehole has been one of the best decisions they’ve made as drought conditions grip.
Cllr Andrew Stevens said his beef farm in the north-west of the county didn’t have the capacity for a reservoir, unlike larger farms, and that he relied on the borehole and mains water as well as rainwater collected from a large shed.
The 41-year-old runs Llannant Farm with his brother and father and said he’d never experienced a summer like the current one.
Referring to the borehole, he said: “Thankfully we put one in a number of years back – best thing we ever did.”
A Pembrokeshire farmer meanwhile said he feared a “real shortage of potatoes” come the autumn, and there are wider concerns food prices will rise.
As well as grass Cllr Stevens’ cattle feed on hay, silage and haylage – a drier form of silage. He said the first cut of grass this spring was a good one compared to last year.
“We made a lot of hay, which was really good,” he said. “A couple of fields have still got some grass on them. But things have gone so dry now nothing is growing. We’re having to feed the cows hay now.”
Cllr Stevens said the cows would normally be fed hay from around October when they came in from the fields, which means he’d have to buy in extra winter fodder.
He said the farm had trees which provided shade and that the cows weren’t showing signs of heat stress although he, his brother and a student who was helping out rigged up a sprinkler for them during a particularly hot recent spell.
He said the herd was split into two with one accessing the yard and shed by day and the other by night.
Cllr Stevens said the situation on his farm, which also does “pick your own” three days a week, wasn’t too worrying at the moment despite some of it being so dusty it resembled “a Texas ranch”.
In the north of the county Cllr Brigitte Rowlands has sheep and suckler cows which can roam on common land, which she described as “a lifesaver” although streams were drying out. She said: “There’s plenty of fodder out there because it’s so vast.”
She said field grass wasn’t re-growing, which meant farmers would need to buy in more supplies for the winter. “I think it’s going to have a huge impact on food prices for 2026-27,” she said.
Cllr Rowlands said dry weather was lovely to work in. “I think it’s the heat that’s the problem,” she said. “It’s burned everything up.”
She said her animals were healthy – the sheep sheared and the cows “quite happy loafing around”. She added: “Cattle tend to know where to go at what time of day.”
Her farm had a borehole installed 23 years ago. “It’s the best thing I ever put in,” she said.
Cllr Rowlands said farmers faced a dilemma as it could be years, she said, before another summer like this one. “It’s difficult to know what to do for the best,” she said.
The climate is warming due to greenhouse gas emissions trapping extra heat in the atmosphere and, according to the European Union Copernicus observation programme, temperatures are rising in Europe at just over twice the rate of other regions.
It said this was due to factors including decreased amounts of snow cover, which means more solar radiation being absorbed rather than reflected back into space, shifts in atmospheric circulation, and reduced air pollution because aerosols can reduce the amount of solar radiation reaching the Earth’s surface.
The UK’s three warmest years since 1884 have been in 2025, 2023 and 2022.
Wales’s direct greenhouse emissions, which agriculture contributes to, are falling. There is an ambition to become net zero in emissions by 2050.
Asked if the warming climate might make Cllr Stevens and Cllr Rowlands think twice if they were starting out now in farming, Cllr Stevens said: “Not for me. I love farming and I’d still be doing it. It can be the best job, despite its challenges.
“We’re a resilient bunch and we adapt. That’s what farmers have always done. It would help if we got a fair price for our produce though. Fuel, feed, fertiliser and machinery have all gone one way and the ‘farm gate price’ hasn’t followed.
“The big thing I would welcome would be to reduce red tape, and enable support to produce food and adapt, and a focus on food security as a nation.”
Cllr Rowlands said: “I would say it would be something to factor into decisions on what land your are farming on and what livestock and crops would be best suited to the area and environment where based.”
Abi Reader, president of farming union NFU Cymru, said last week’s announcement of drought status across all Wales would be of no surprise to farmers.
“The lack of rainfall is now having an impact on crop yields and members across Wales have made us aware of the challenges facing them in the respect of making sure that their animals have sufficient access to food and water,” she said.
With short-to-medium term weather forecasts offering little respite, she said, it was imperative the Welsh Government and Natural Resources Wales (NRW) worked with the industry and operated “a sensible, flexible approach” to support farmers. This included acting promptly to farmers’ requests for so-called derogations from specific Sustainable Farming Scheme subsidy requirements. These can be submitted if extreme weather affected their ability to meet the requirements.
She added: “With many farmers now having to provide additional feed to their livestock, opening forage stocks that were set aside for this winter, it could mean that these farmers will need to purchase additional feed for the winter at significant cost.”
Arable farmer Tom Rees, of Pembrokeshire, said his wheat, barley and oil seed rape crops were early but good this year while his early potatoes were “okay”.
“The main crop of potatoes look like they’re seriously suffering,” he said. “I think there will be a real shortage of potatoes this autumn. We are running out of time – that’s the main problem.”
He has 160 acres set aside for potatoes and said an average yield was 20-22 tonnes per acre. This year it’s looking like 16-17 tonnes with 40-50% of the potatoes likely to be smaller than the minimum size he said supermarkets tended to accept for their main lines. In a normal year only 5% would be below the threshold.
Across the UK last year potato production increased by 8.5% compared to 2024, according to Government figures. Wheat and oilseed rape production were also up by around 7% while barley was down 10%.
Mr Rees felt it was critical that applications for large-scale irrigation ponds were fast-tracked to capture what he termed Wales’s “abundance of rain”. Once in place the 38-year-old said they could benefit biodiversity as well as be used to fight fires.
Wales received an estimated 1.6m of rain in the 12 months between July 2025 and June this year according to a UK hydrological monitoring programme – 10% more than the 1991-2020 average.
Last month though was Wales’ driest July on record. Rainfall was less than half its previous driest July in 1911.
Wildlife too is feeling the drought squeeze. Water from some reservoirs is being fed into rivers to boost depleted levels and support aquatic life. This includes water from the Llyn Brianne reservoir in mid-Wales which is being released into the River Towy downstream of Capel Dewi, Carmarthenshire, for 30 days. NRW said the water being used was held in a fisheries water bank – a reserve set aside for supporting river conditions when needed.
“We have deliberately adopted a cautious approach,” said Dave Charlesworth, of NRW. “While the release will help support the river and its fish populations now, it is also important that we retain sufficient water within the fisheries water bank should further environmental support be needed later in the year.”
According to the Met Office there is a greater chance further into August of frontal systems or thundery spells affecting southern and eastern parts of the UK further compared to recent weeks though rainfall could be variable with some areas receiving relatively little.
Further ahead, up to September 2, the Met Office said the broad theme of high pressure at least close to the UK seemed most probable, with occasional more unsettled or changeable interludes, either resulting from Atlantic frontal systems or thundery plumes. “This means that rainfall amounts overall are more likely to be below normal than above,” it said.
The Welsh Government said in a statement: “We recognise the pressures facing farmers and growers during these prolonged dry weather conditions, including impacts on livestock, crops, and farm businesses.
 “This new government is addressing the climate emergency head-on. We have made climate and nature action a cabinet-level, cross-cutting responsibility across all portfolio areas, reflecting the scale of action needed.
“We’ve announced more than £1 billion this Senedd term to support sustainable agriculture, giving the sector long-term certainty to plan and invest with confidence and, through our water reform programme, we will take full control of water in Wales, now and for future generations.
“With that control, we will make better use of the water already available to us, including through water re-use and water efficiency, while planning for the long-term effects of climate change.”
It added that it looked favourably on temporary derogations sought by farmers participating in the Sustainable Farming Scheme considering the dry weather. ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​

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