The British Onion Producers’ Association (BOPA) said about 90pc of the UK crop is grown in East Anglia, where just 2mm of rain fell during July - 96pc below average.

Meanwhile, as demand for irrigation water grew and reservoir levels fell, many of the region's farmers faced tighter restrictions on abstraction licences in areas where river flows had dropped below minimum thresholds - preventing crops being watered at key growth stages.

BOPA chairman Ben Collins said these........

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