How UK Scientists Are Working to Help Crops Adapt to a Warming World

Opened in 2024 at the university’s Colchester campus, this £3 million state-of-the-art facility places the UK at the forefront of global crop resilience research. And with extreme weather increasingly shaping agricultural production, its insights could not come at a more critical time. 

A recent ECIU survey revealed the stark reality: 

• 86% of UK farmers have been hit by extreme rainfall in the past five years 

• 78% have felt the impact of drought 

• More than 50% have faced heat-related crop damage 

This year alone, the driest spring in over a century, followed by the warmest spring and summer on record, contributed to England’s second worst harvest ever recorded. As AHDB’s latest Climate Change Adaptation report warns, UK farming is becoming increasingly vulnerable. 

STEPS aims to change that. 

Recreating tomorrow’s climate today 

The laboratory’s controlled environments include: 

• A ‘drought room’ capable of replicating water stress patterns from any global field 

• A climate-controlled indoor field 

• A cutting-edge GrowFrame 360 vertical farm 

Researchers can adjust heat, humidity, lighting, water availability, CO₂, and even mimic seasonal patterns, allowing them to test how crops react to tomorrow’s climate, today. 

“We can program the drought room to track conditions in a field anywhere in the world,” explains Dr Amanda Cavanagh, senior researcher and director of the Plant Productivity Group. “Right now we’re tracking a soybean field, but it could just as easily be a field of sugar beet in Norfolk.” 

At the heart of STEPS is a powerful phenotyping robot, fitted with advanced imaging and scanning systems that measure how plants respond to environmental changes in real time. It allows researchers to watch stress responses unfold leaf by leaf, detecting shifts in photosynthesis, water uptake, root development and yield potential long before they are visible to the human eye. 

“We’re getting a big-data view of how plants respond,” says Dr Cavanagh. “We now know, for example, how spectral reflectance can be used to estimate greenness or water stress, and we’re developing new indices for the stresses crops are facing.” 

Boosting water-use efficiency and drought tolerance 

Among the major projects underway is a PhD initiative, part-funded by the British Beet Research Organisation, focusing on water-use efficiency in sugar beet. With drought emerging as one of the most pressing threats to UK yields, the goal is to identify varieties that maintain performance under extreme dryness. 

Researchers are also exploring the long-term impact of early-season water stress, uncovering how even brief drought periods can affect yield months later. Soil behaviour remains one of the biggest unknowns, however. 

“We can simulate a lot, but we can’t yet fully replicate how individual soils behave,” says Dr Cavanagh. “Essex’s heavy clays, for example, crack deeply during drought, that’s incredibly hard to model at scale.” 

Climate Change brings new pest and disease pressures 

Alongside drought and heat, climate change is reshaping the pest and disease landscape. Onions are now facing increasing threat from fusarium basal rot, prompting STEPS researchers to test unconventional solutions, such as growing onions aeroponically in the vertical farm to reduce disease exposure. 

“It was a real surprise to see we could grow onions vertically,” says Dr Cavanagh. “It opens new possibilities for producing clean, pest-free British crops.” 

Temperature rises may also unlock opportunities for new UK-grown crops. Research by the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology suggests future conditions could support crops such as oranges, chickpeas, and okra. Some growers are already experimenting with vines, tea, rice and even olives. 

But not every crop can be replaced, cautions Dr Andrew Simkin, director of the Essex Plant Innovation Centre. 

“We can’t simply swap wheat out for another crop,” he says. “Wheat provides critical calories for both humans and livestock. The future lies in modifying agronomy and improving resilience, not abandoning our core crops.” 

Engineering climate-resilient crops 

Back in the drought room, the temperature sits at 27°C as researchers examine rice plants being trialled for greater heat and water resilience. “It only takes a few small shifts in temperature and humidity before the room becomes uncomfortable,” says Dr Cavanagh. “These are the conditions crops will increasingly face.” 

Thankfully, the work underway at STEPS, and across the wider UK plant science community, is pushing the boundaries of what crops can withstand. Each project brings the UK one step closer to a climate-resilient farming future. 

Join us at CropTec 2026 - NEC Birmingham, 14-15 January 

Crop resilience, heat tolerance, water efficiency, and climate-smart agronomy will be major themes at CropTec 2026, taking place for the first time alongside LAMMA and Low Carbon Agriculture at the NEC Birmingham. 

The UK’s leading event for arable innovation, crop technology and future-focused agronomy.