Droughts and Downpours Deliver Second Worst Crop Yield on Record for UK

According to an analysis of government figures, England has just experienced its second worst harvest on record in 2025. The country has been reeling from the effects of the hottest spring and summer on record, as well as the driest spring in more than a century, with five regions remaining in official drought.

Provisional data from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) shows that crop yields have fallen significantly below earlier estimates. Wheat, barley, oats, and oilseed rape all saw lower-than-expected yields, with the 2025 harvest now ranked as the second worst on record.

This marks the second poor harvest in a row for the UK, following the heavy rains in the preceding winter that devastated key crops like wheat and oats in 2024. Experts warn that the escalating climate impacts are making it increasingly challenging for farmers to produce food, with three of the five worst harvests on record now occurring this decade.

"This harvest is even worse than expected and marks a second successive poor harvest, following on from one of the worst harvests on record last year after incredibly heavy rainfall, made worse by climate change," said Tom Lancaster, a land, food and farming analyst at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit. "We have now seen three of the five worst harvests on record this decade after extreme weather, telling a story of escalating climate impacts that farmers are unable to cope with."