Drought leaves 'barely any apples' to make cider

Breaking news from the markets: Drought leaves 'barely any apples' to make ciderImage caption, Kimberly Jones has seen just 10% of the usual apple crop at her cider orchardByDave Harvey, West of England business and environment correspondent and and James DiamondPublished25 August 2026Somerset's famous cider orchards have been "decimated" by the long summer drought, producers say. Many trees have produced no fruit at all, and others have dropped their fruit early, rotting before they ripened. "It's gut-wrenching," says Kimberly Jones of Honey's Cider near Bath, whose orchard has produced only a 10th of its normal amount of apples.

Neil MacDonald, who manages more than 1,000 acres of Somerset orchards, says he has watched half his apples fall before they have ripened, because the trees are stressed by the drought. "Nothing sells cider like sunshine," he says, "and we've emptied our tanks. "The sadness is we haven't got enough fruit to refill the tanks again.

Economic Details

" More from SomersetTeenagers arrested after fire destroys businesses Published4 days agoFunds needed to repair war memorial pavilion Published4 days agoFood influencers v critics: Why credibility counts Published3 days agoTrees under stressWalking through Kimberly Jones' orchard just outside Bath, it's hard to see any apples at all. The trees should be groaning with fruit, she tells me, but "we might get 10% of our normal crop here, and that's generous". The orchard is 25 years old, and this is by far the driest year they have had.

Because 2025 was also dry, the trees became stressed, she explained, and this year most have just not made fruit at all, to save their energy. Unlike the big commercial brands, Honey's Cider is only made from fresh juice. Jones refuses to buy apple concentrate or industrial products.

"So we can only make cider from the juice we make each year, which means we will be down this year," she adds. Ironically, the long hot summer has been "brilliant" for actually selling cider. "Everyone likes a cold cider on a hot day, but we are struggling now to grow fruit for next year," Jones says.

Analyst Views

Image caption, Big cracks have opened under the apple trees, which have dropped unripe fruit early to save energy. On one of Somerset's most famous cider farms, I hear the same story. Gordon Rich started pressing apples on a farm near Highbridge in 1954.

Today his grandson George Scott makes nearly a million litres of cider a year. "We would normally harvest 20-30 tonnes of apples here," he tells me, walking through one orchard. "There's so little fruit in here I won't even put the harvester in - the sheep can have any that drop.

"Neighbouring farms that Scott buys from are also short of fruit. One grower who normally produces 200 tonnes is "down to about 30", he adds. Image caption, "We won't even bother to bring the harvester in here", says George Scott, Master Cider Maker at Rich's Cider.

Financial markets are tracking the development closely as investors assess the likely impact.