Of all the machinery, equipment and technology we regularly report on and write about, irrigation is not usually one that gets much attention.
Personally, I have some understanding and limited experience of it through the horticultural sector, but for most farmers it is a largely unknown magic reserved for potato and vegetable growers, and some arable units on the Brecklands of Norfolk and Suffolk.
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Living in Herefordshire, there are plenty of irrigation systems in use, with the Wye, Teme and Severn generally providing ample resources of water to pump and rain-gun onto thirsty crops. However, as part of my job, we get to visit trade events across Europe, including EIMA in Italy.
This event has an entire hall dedicated to irrigation, with two immediate observations: there is so much we do not know about pumping and delivering water to crops, and there is so much technology available to make the best use of the water once we have it.
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If summers 2025 and 2026 are the shape of things to come, and with Andy Burnham's 拢65 million fund announcement to provide drought resilience for farmers, we need to start seriously looking at what other countries achieve with limited water and oven-like temperatures, and what long-term investments we need to make to plant, grow and harvest crops in a rapidly changing climate.
EIMA takes place at the start of November, so expect to see some water-focused, if less cover-image-grabbing, machinery and technology in our report.
