Is Climate Important?

The most important factor determining what you can grow on any area of land, on a broad geographical basis, is climate. Look at any map showing the distribution of farm types in the country (available from MAFF in Pinner; see above) and you will see that grassland farming types tend to be located to the west of the country and arable farming types to the east, with mixed farming types in the middle.

Climate affects the length of the growing season, the length of the grazing season, whether irrigation is required, the potential for nutrient leaching, soil erosion and a whole host of other things which are central to agricultural and horticultural production. Many worthwhile details can be found from the MAFF publication 'The Agricultural Climate of England and Wales', (Technical Bulletin No. 35, 1976, Her Majesty's Stationary Office, London).

The crop to be grown is also important since different crops have different rooting depths (thus tapping different amounts of avail-able water) and different rates of transpiration. Vegetables are very shallow-rooted and some probably need watering wherever they are grown. Grass is very deep-rooted and never needs watering in many areas. All of this is important because of the cost of irrigation water. An inch of water on one acre contains rather more than 22,000 gallons. If it's taken from the mains this may cost 60p per 1,000 gallons or £13.20 for every inch per acre. In the Southend area it might be necessary to apply 6 or 7 inches of water on vegetables and this will cost £80 to £90 per acre. If water is abstracted from water courses it will he metred and charged. If it is taken from a borehole it may cost as much as £10,000 to drill the borehole where the water table comes to the surface.