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Farmer's warning amid 'worst drought in 41 years'

Richard Cornock Richard looks into the camera with a black face. He's wearing a light blue t-shirt and is sitting in a tractor. Green grass can be seen in the background.Richard Cornock
A dairy farmer has said he has never experienced a spring and summer as dry as this year

A dairy farmer fears his cattle could run out of food in "the worst drought in 41 years".

Richard Cornock, based near Wotton-under-Edge, in Gloucestershire, said crops this year have been "abysmal" and he is running out of grass to feed his cows. He warned farmers across the area are experiencing similar issues.

Gloucestershire is the driest county in the West Country, with less rainfall than Wiltshire, Somerset and Bristol, Met Office statistics show.

Mr Cornock said: "It's been a dry summer, but it's been a dry spring as well. I've been farming 41 years and I've never known a drought like this."

The farmer, also known as The Funky Farmer by his 166,000 YouTube followers, said if the second cut is disappointing, he may run out of grass.

He said: "I've got to grow the grass to feed the cows to make the lovely milk you put on your cornflakes this morning."

Mr Cornock explained he would normally do a first cut of the grass in May.

This feeds the cattle in the winter time and is the best grass of the year due to its high sugar content.

Richard Cornock Mr Cornock and his assistant walks through a brown field behind a crowd of dairy cows. The grass is dead under the blue sky.Richard Cornock
Farmers across the West are experiencing a drought

However, the last few month's yield has been hopeless as there has been hardly any grass, the farmer said.

He added that the older he grew, the more he "appreciated he has chosen a very difficult career".

"We always get through this - farmers are really resilient - but it's very hard," he said.

The Department for Food, Environment and Rural Affairs (Defra) said north-east and north-west England had not experienced as dry a period between January and April since 1929.

UK-wide, experts say this spring could be one of the driest on record.

What is climate change?

Climate change is the long-term shift in the Earth's average temperatures and weather conditions.

The world has been warming up quickly over the past 100 years or so. As a result, weather patterns are changing.

Between 2015 and 2024, global temperatures were on average around 1.28C above those of the late 19th Century, according to the European Copernicus climate service, external.

Since the 1980s, each decade has been warmer than the previous one, the UK Met Office says.

The year 2024 was the world's hottest on record, with climate change mainly responsible for the high temperatures.

It was also the first calendar year to surpass 1.5C of warming compared to pre-industrial levels, according to Copernicus.

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