The Royal Meteorological Society, in partnership with the Met Office and the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, is conducting a comprehensive annual assessment of recent climate impacts on UK agriculture and food supply chains, while identifying transformative solutions.

Climate change is already affecting the UK agri-food sector, with well-documented impacts across parts of the supply chain. Evidence shows that extreme rainfall, drought and heat events can reduce yields in crops, while heat exposure has been linked to reduced milk production in dairy cows. However, important gaps remain in our understanding of how climate change is affecting food production, quality, and supply chains in the UK.

In 2026, several major UK policy processes relating to climate risk, adaptation, and food security are due to report. These developments highlight the need for improved evidence on how climate change is affecting the agri-food sector. In particular, there is currently a lack of clear impact indicators that can help quantify climate-related risks and support future monitoring and policy development.

State of the Climate for the UK Agri-Food Sector will:

1. Develop quantitative impact indicators with stakeholders across the UK agri-food industry, policy, and academic sectors, covering the past five years.
2. Investigate and highlight existing solutions addressing climate change impacts within the UK agri-food sector.
3. Define a process for monitoring impact indicators and integrating them into future UK agri-food policy development, with particular reference to National Adaptation Programme actions N6, N9 and ID1, and food security reporting.

Stakeholders across the agri-food, research, and policy communities are invited to follow the progress of this work. Updates will be shared throughout the project lifecycle, including opportunities to engage with the work and early insights as they emerge.

Sign up to receive project updates and announcements via the Royal Meteorological Society website:

https://www.rmets.org/publications/reports-and-briefing-papers/agri-food/state-climate-uk-agri-food-sector