Wearing large rubber boots, Nadine Mitschunas joyfully handled mature rice plants peeking through the water of her small plot growing in the fertile soil of eastern England.

Growing rice “has not been done before in the UK”, said Mitschunas, a field ecologist at the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH).

But as temperatures warm due to climate change, “it’s not such a crazy idea because it seems to work”, she added.

As rice grows in eastern England, lemon groves and chickpeas were also cropping up in the south.

A warmer climate and changing rainfall patterns have made planning ahead essential, and British researchers are embarking on a journey of agricultural transformation.

Mitschunas is leading research with a project that tests new crops in the flat Fens of Cambridgeshire by rewetting peatlands.