The driest Spring we have ever recorded

So far this Spring, it has been the driest that we have ever recorded. Since the end of February, we have had a mere 13mm of rainfall. After a whole year of higher-than-average rainfall (160% of the usual), it finally stopped raining. This was a relief as we were getting just a bit bored with the stuck in a muddy rut rainfall. Our average monthly rainfall here at Hardwick is around 45mm, so by now we should have had around 120mm of rain. Averages are a hugely unreliable way to predict rainfall, as we have a maritime climate – universally reckoned to be the hardest of all to predict. Some months we may get over 100mm and others almost none at all.

When I set the farm up here in 1987, I was aware of the need to install irrigation. We invested heavily in the infrastructure and equipment to ensure that we could irrigate our crops. The land here is thin, stony and very prone to drought. Being over chalk means that the chalk will suck the moisture from the soil. Vegetables require regular amounts of water to produce decent quality and resist the attacks of pest and diseases. I had experienced the severe drought of 1976, when the whole of the UK was without rainfall from April till September. Water was rationed to domestic supplies, and people were queuing to get water from street standpipes in many parts of the country. It was our first year of commercial strawberry growing, and keeping the plants alive was a serious struggle with access to water for only one hour each day. This experience shaped my thinking around the need to provide our crops with adequate water.

It would be impossible to grow crops here if we had no water, so we are very fortunate to be sitting over a massive chalk aquifer with a wonderful supply of clean water. It takes us a lot of effort to keep the pump running and keep moving the 20-metre-wide rig from field to field, but it ensures our vegetable keep coming and preserves the 6 jobs that our farm services. It also means we can feed a lot of people.

It is a long time since that drought of 1976 but the law of averages can lure one into the suspicion that perhaps this coming year is to be a re- run of that meteorological rarity. I could be completely wrong; it may start to rain tomorrow and not stop for months again. But just incase, we stand prepared and ready to continue to water our fields as we have for many decades before. Ever thankful and never to be taken for granted, the gift of water and the life it brings and preserves.