In 2011, when drought loomed across much of England, Andrey Ivanov faced a tough decision about Wilkin & Sons signature strawberry and raspberry crops.

“I remember the year 2011-2012, when our reservoirs were only half full, and we only had enough water to irrigate until mid-May, maybe end of May,” said the general manager. “We had to make a tough decision – to irrigate only 20% to 30% of the crop or risk losing everything and hoping for rain. But then, on the 12th of April, the heavens opened, and we had the wettest summer on record.

“That experience taught us a valuable lesson, and we put together a plan to extend our capacity to avoid facing these challenges again. We’ve got the water, we’ve got the opportunity, and we need to do more. Now, we can say we are fully resilient in terms of water.”

Located in a dry area of Essex, the region received only 515 millimeters of rain in 2022, comparable with some of the world’s driest countries. So the 650-acre farm has been proactively managing water for years.