Farming News - Autumn arrives early: does a bumper year for berries predict a harsh winter?

Autumn arrives early: does a bumper year for berries predict a harsh winter?

The hot, dry spring and cooler, wetter summer has led to a bumper soft fruit crop throughout England this year. However, the accelerated changing of the seasons has led to an early onset of autumn and there are fears of a cold winter.

Matthew Oates, spokesperson for the National Trust, said autumn has come several weeks early this year. Though the spring and early summer provided ideal conditions for soft fruits and berries, tradition holds that a large berry crop is a precursor of a harsh winter.   

Though the spring brought fears of prolonged drought, these were quashed as August brought rain; the country as a whole received 126 per cent of its average monthly rainfall, although the Midlands has yet to catch up. Whilst parts of the West Midlands remain extremely dry, agronomists have said that this has not affected wheat or oilseed rape yields in the region.

The warm spring weather has also helped apple growers; trade magazine Harpers today revealed that the English cider apple harvest has gotten underway a month earlier than usual. Gabe Cook, spokesperson for the National Association of Cider Makers (NACM), commented on the early harvest, ''The harvest has started earlier but then we saw an early blossom in spring. Whilst cider makers are always happy to see the apples start to arrive, as an industry we track what happens and when to evaluate the impact of climate change as it presents real opportunities and risks to what we do.''

The Met Office predicts premature autumnal conditions will persist into October. It said temperatures are likely to remain below average for the majority of the country for the first part of the month. A spokesperson said temperatures were likely to be, “well below average across parts of England and Wales, where the first frosts of the autumn are possible in rural areas. However, there are still likely to be some warm days at times, especially in the south and east.”