Can you believe it?
After all that snow (snow is made from water, if I remember correctly), it has been on the radio all day that we are officially in a drought. The story is also covered in the Grauniad, and the Farmers Weekly, to name but two. Farmers are already saying that crop yields will be down as a result.
As you can see from the photo on the left, Nottingham’s Old Market Square is littered with the sun-dried skeletons of Staffordshire Bull Terriers and skateboarders – many of which appear to have sprouted horns as a consequence of the arid conditions. The Acacias and Baobabs which normally line the Square are looking very much the worse for wear.
The funniest part on the radio was the “expert” they interviewed:
Due to the lack of rain the amount of water held in the soil is very low. Wheat draws water from the soil. Wheat needs water to develop properly.
And I always thought the Grain Fairy was responsible.
The real problem now is that we either hope for the crappest summer on record, or we get ready for ridiculous price hikes later this year – probably on grain harvested last year.
And to make matters even worse, here in the East Midlands it has absolutely tossed it down with rain at least three times today. Of course, we all know that heavy rain is also bad for wheat, because it makes it fall over or start germinating when still out in the fields.
I think we’d just better get ready to be ripped off later in the year, because nothing is going to get us out of this.