UK governments should specifically incorporate climate change resilience into developing agricultural policy, strategies and schemes, says the National Sheep Association (NSA), admitting that policy makers are faced with a challenging task.

The NSA urges farmers to consider climate resilience measures in their farming systems and plans.

The announcement comes in the wake of this week’s Met Office warning that the UK is experiencing a “notably different” climate to just a few decades ago.

Climate resilience is a key component of multi-season productivity, says Phil Stocker.

“This season is showing once again that we need to find ways of making our farming systems more resilient,” says Mr Stocker. “We have a varied picture across the country but huge areas area suffering from extreme drought with many fields looking starkly bare.

“Our weather is getting more unpredictable and both wet and dry seasons are making planning and farming very difficult, and contingencies are more important.”

Climate trends are affecting farming and food production directly, through drought conditions or flooding, but also have a more inconspicuous effect on parasite life cycles and virus incidence, like schmallenberg and bluetongue.

“Sheep have moved around the country for decades to where feed is, moving south and east every autumn, but this year the trend has been reversed in some cases due to a grass shortage. We have also seen changes in stomach worm and blowfly timings and flocks exposed to viruses for which there are limited means of protection,” adds Phil.

More explicit and direct mention of climate change resilience and abatement in policy documents, and financial assistance for achieving such outcomes would be worthwhile, believes NSA.