It’s been a catastrophic harvest for British farmers and their European counterparts – and for many, one that they cannot afford to repeat.As if anyone could still doubt it, climate change is real, it’s palpable and it’s here to stay. We need action in the form of innovation and technology, and we need it now. The relentless heatwaves baking the UK have decimated this year’s harvest. Research from the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit estimates losses from heat and drought for UK farming to be close to £400m. This trend is visible across Europe. The harsh reality is that farmers lost an estimated €2bn (£1.7bn) in earnings in June’s heatwave alone, with nine million tonnes of crops destroyed. Indeed, as the drought worsens, farmers in the UK and the EU member states are now expected to record their smallest harvest since 2018.

Water storage and the efficient use of it will be central to improving resilience against extreme heat. Farmers must be encouraged to wring the most out of every last drop, using the very latest technologies and techniques.So, I welcome the Government’s announcement last Friday delivering new drought support measures for farmers in England including extra funding for building on-farm reservoirs and improving the policy and planning framework.However, more needs to be done. Science and technology must play their part and a helpful regulatory framework will be critical to making that happen.Accordingly, lessons need to be learned here in the UK. The Government must be mindful not to throw away important gains when it comes to forthcoming “reset” negotiations with the EU.Post-Brexit, UK farmers can access some technologies and products that remain unauthorised in the EU. If we simply adopt all EU regulations as proposed, that access will be lost.The UK should avoid what Europe has done in treating sustainability and agricultural productivity as competing objectives. They must go hand in hand. The most sustainable agriculture is not necessarily the one that uses the fewest technologies. It is the one that produces the food that populations need while having the lowest impact on land, water and the natural world.The real question, therefore, is whether the UK can ensure it has a regulatory framework that reconciles its environmental ambitions with the reality that sustainable agriculture will require more innovation – not less. That question remains very much an open one.Innovation is the only way we’ll keep feeding a growing population in a warming world.In terms of the scientific community, my own company Syngenta – along with many others – already develops agricultural biologicals, including bio-stimulants and nutrient use efficiency products, which can boost overall plant resilience to stress while enhancing growth.These products also improve overall plant tolerance to extreme weather conditions including drought and heavy rain.

In other areas, the glacial pace of regulatory processes in the EU remains a significant disincentive for investment. We have heat-testing sites around the world where we grow all sorts of essential crops to see what is most resilient in extreme heat. Much of this work is currently focused outside the EU.Crop protection products and better genetics can also help boost plant resilience in drought conditions. For instance, studies have shown that crops treated with certain fungicides lost less water in drought conditions and maintained good photosynthetic activity compared to those left untreated.Because the treated crops lost less water, they were able to better withstand heat and drought stress, growing healthier and stronger. Again, some of these products remain unauthorised in the EU, but growers in the UK currently have access to them.I’m not going to sugarcoat it: combatting the effects of climate change is one of the greatest challenges facing humanity. Giving farmers everywhere access to the potential of innovation and technology, underpinned by new digital and AI solutions that allow farmers to plan much more forensically, will be critical for food security.Now more than ever, we need everyone to work together towards a common goal: sustainable food production in a rapidly changing world. We stand ready – along with farmers, governments, regulators and others – to play our part.