
Lincolnshire,
Cambridgeshire, parts of Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire, and west
Norfolk are still in drought.
Leicestershire, Warwickshire and Shropshire are also particularly dry.
The Anglian water company has applied for two drought permits from the
Environment Agency. One will take water from the River Nene to
fill Pitsford reservoir in Northamptonshire. A second will use water
from the River Nene to refill Rutland reservoir.
This
Christmas, it is between 25 and 30 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than this
time last year and the water table is still very low and will take a lot
to rectify it.

Forecasts of a poor
harvest shouldn’t dampen enthusiasm in the arable sector, two leading
banks said at Cereals.
HSBC and Lloyds both said they would work with farmers who suffer from
cash flow problems if the predicted yields prove to be accurate.
Lloyds’ agriculture director Gareth Oakley said:
“The long term prospects for UK cereals growers are still positive.
There is pressure on grain stocks. Demand is strong and increasing in
the UK and across the world, but higher input prices and the effects of
drought earlier this year may put short-term pressure on cash flows.
There may be particular problems for growers who committed to sell large
volumes of their crops forward. If they do not grow enough grain then
they may be forced to buy in expensive stocks to cover their
commitments.”
Next year’s fertiliser prices are expected to be in excess of £300/tonne
for ammonium nitrate and many cereal yields in the east and south of the
country could be more than 10 per cent down, according to forecasts.

The last
12 months made up Britain’s second-warmest year since records
began, the Met Office has said.
They
included the warmest April and Spring on record - and the second warmest
Autumn. The highest single-day temperature for October was also broken,
with Gravesend in Kent notching up 29.9 degrees on October 1, beating
the previous record of 29.4 set at March in Cambridgeshire in 1985.
The top temperature of
the year was 33.1 degrees on 27 June at Gravesend. Britain's
hottest-ever mark came in 2003, again in Gravesend, when 38.1 degrees
was reached.
All of the UK's top
seven warmest years have happened in the last decade.

The
leading rural insurer has reported a two-and-a-half times increase in
livestock rustling during 2011.
Based
on its claims data, NFU Mutual estimates more than 60,000 sheep could
have been stolen between January and October. Its analysts say livestock
theft is costing UK farmers at least £6 million a year.
They have tracked an
upwards trend since the low levels of rustling around 2000, when
farm thieves predominantly targeted quad bikes, tractors and power
tools.
The Mutual says strong
meat prices could be behind the resurgence, drawing parallels with the
recent spikes in stolen copper and diesel.
Farmers are now being
encouraged to do more to prevent the growing problem, which has proved
particularly problematic in Wales and South West and North East England.
Farmers and butchers are
being advised to check livestock records and ear tags to make sure they
are not buying stolen animals.
Other
advice includes:
Padlocking gates to fields
Making sure stock is marked and records kept up-to-date
Grazing sheep away from roads, if possible
Joining a FarmWatch
scheme.
