The worst drought farms have faced in decades is making conditions worse.
Experts have warned that potatoes may stop growing on Scottish soil over the next few years due to climate change.
Farmers in some parts of the country have experienced the worst drought they have seen in decades.
Ben Shoreman said his farm in East Lothian received less than a third of the usual rainfall during the summer months.
“It was destroying the soul,” he said. “It doesn’t cost us any less, nor does it cost us less work or hours.
“Now we are considering whether we will be able to conclude supply contracts and whether we can really afford to return them to service next year, because this is a double blow.
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“If we can’t, then we really plan to buy products for resale, which is not very good for business, or for food miles, or for anyone else, because it increases the cost.”
As farms struggle to meet their quotas, it is predicted that the cost of potatoes could double in the coming months.
Carlo Crolla’s fish and chip shop in Musselburgh, East Lothian, has been owned by his family since 1974, but his supplier has warned he can expect much bigger bills.
Earlier this year, he raised prices due to the sharp rise in oil, fish and energy prices, but feels he can’t do it again.
“Customers won’t pay these prices when they have their own problems with energy pricing and things like that, so it’s very scary,” he said.
“The margin is already very small, and it will be much worse in the future. If it got to the point where I couldn’t use the products I wanted to use, I would probably close my doors.”
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Experts warned that this year’s weather was not a one-off, but a sign of upcoming events.
Leslie Torrance from the James Hutton Institute said: “We are expecting a hotter and drier summer. There will be much more days associated with heat stress of plants, by 2030 there will be as many as 60 of them – there are only eight years left before that.
“This can dramatically affect the types of crops we can grow and where we grow them. We may still be able to grow some potatoes in the north of Scotland, but we really need to do something now.”
Potatoes need a lot of water to grow. Currently, many farms take water from nearby rivers to irrigate their crops. However, this practice is prohibited during periods of drought, which further exacerbates the problem.
“We are looking for ways to reduce the risk in the future by building reservoirs, increasing the number of wells and creating infrastructure to improve efficiency,” says Mr. Shoreman.
“It’s an investment, but equally, if we don’t have money from sales, it’s hard for us to expect huge capital expenditures on infrastructure.”
The Scottish government has said tackling climate change is one of its “key priorities.”
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Rural Affairs Minister Mairi Goujon said: “We are very well aware of the difficulties that some producers will face as a result of the water shortage situation, and we have taken all possible actions to mitigate this, where possible, to the limit, and we will continue monitoring.
“We will learn from this situation and develop our response measures for future events, as well as work with producers and operators to promote water efficiency to increase resilience to water scarcity conditions.
“During the summer, officials worked closely with SEPA to monitor the water shortage situation. Numerous rivers have reached the level of “significant scarcity” due to arid conditions. In accordance with the National Plan to Combat Water Scarcity, SEPA has taken measures to temporarily suspend the licenses for water abstraction within the affected catchment area to protect the aquatic environment.
“This is the first time in Scotland that water intake licenses had to be suspended due to water shortages, and this shows the seriousness of the situation. This harm is the result of climate change, and combating climate change is one of the key priorities of this government.”
