Lack of rain is forcing growers like David Matthews to rethink his irrigation plans this spring.

Mr Matthews, of G&D Matthews, uses trickle irrigation to produce 105ha (260 acres) of potatoes at West Pinchbeck, near Spalding, Lincolnshire.

“We are having to be more careful on site selection,” he told Farmers Weekly. “We are being a bit more critical. If there’s a field that is slightly more iffy, we are not using trickle – we are moving it about a bit.”

A much more efficient use of water than some forms of irrigation, trickle does not require a licence. But it does require heavy investment – often more than £1000/ha.

Rather than drenching crops in water, trickle irrigation delivers water where it is needed, at the base of the plants near the roots.

Water is delivered through disposable tape laid 50mm below each ridge about two weeks after planting. The silty soils are prone to capping so this approach means irrigation can continue under the cap to control soil moisture and prevent scab.

Even so, Mr Matthews said lack of rain meant it was still important to be conscientious when using what is becoming an increasingly scarce resource. “Water still has to be there and we have to use it responsibly, so we have to try and assess where the water will be in two or three months time.

“It’s probably been the driest we’ve known it. It’s being compared to 1976 a lot – it will be interesting to see. The next three months will be critical but we think we’ve got the right delivery system to probably use less than half the water than overhead irrigation.”

For more see our drought page