'Some of my turf fields are as dry as biscuits'

A turf grower who supplies Wimbledon and football stadiums including Manchester United said "relentless warm temperatures and drought" have had a "heartbreaking" impact.

Simon Hutton, managing director of Tillers Turf, near Lincoln, said between 65 and 75% of his fields were dry after a lack of rainfall since February.

Mr Hutton said he felt frustrated at having to "sacrifice" watering some fields in order to prioritise harvesting high end produce.

"It's a challenge, we don't really know what's coming next."

Mr Hutton said just over 1in (30mm) of rain had fallen on his 2200 acres (890 hectares) of fields since the end of February.

Due to a lack of rain Mr Hutton said he had to prioritise watering high end turf used for football stadiums, Wimbledon and Lord's Cricket Ground.

Mr Hutton said because of his efforts, those venues had not been impacted, but lower grades of turf had.

"There's no ifs buts or maybes, we've thrown everything at it," he said.

"We put our blood sweat and tears into what we do."

Out of the 135 fields, Mr Hutton said they are only able to water 25% through irrigation methods.

He said he avoided checking the weather forecast.

"What falls from the skies is what we get."

According to the Environment Agency, areas in north-west England and Yorkshire are in drought. The organisation said other parts of the country could soon follow if dry weather conditions continued.

According to Mr Hutton, some turf which had been grown to use on golf courses had been affected by the heat and would have to be sold at a lower cost.

"So that means profit loss, it sells for a lower grade," he said.

"Its incredibly frustrating."

Technical manager Richard Owens said the heat had the ability to "burn out" some fields.

"Its quite crisp and crunchy, not how we like it to be" he said.

"It's like a Ryvita biscuit."

Although relentless periods of heat was frustrating, Mr Owens said he tried to keep a positive outlook.

"The weather is out of our control, there's only so much we can do.

"We're doing our best."

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