just saw a report on Midlands Today that blackcurrant crops are really suffering due to the lack of cold and snow

This crop requires cold for bud and crop development

The farmers in Herefordshire do supply that huge brand Ribena and make wines as well

No sign of any cold weather coming up at all - so it's trouble for these farmers

And I guess other people in the farming and agricultural community will be suffering due to this ridiculous Spring warmth in December

 

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Another problem is with fruit trees- I have heard numerous reports of cherry trees in flower down South- surely this will mean a very poor harvest next year?

They aren't the cherries that would flower Late March and April but Winter flowering type which always flowers during mild spells from December. There are a range of shrubs which always flower during mild spells such as Hamaelis and Jasmine
https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/articles/graham-rice/10-agm-winter-flowering-shrubs
The BBC and others have routinely perpetuated the myth of "cherries in mid-winter" since at least 1988 when anything implying global warming became 'hot' topic. 
https://www.habitataid.co.uk/prunus-x-subhirtella-autumnalis-winter-flowering-cherry

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Need frost for SPROUTS ..... Not the same without frost.

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right thanks for that- I must admit I did check my trees in the garden and they seem OK- I do love my cherries come early summer😀

Don't worry too much sriram; here, in 2013-14 winter, only 7 days in December and 9 in January had max temps below 10C and whilst there were 10 frosts in these 2 months, they were never severe. We had our biggest blackcurrant crop ever in 2014; last year produced only a little less and was also mild to December.

 The Blackcurrant Foundation (blackcurrentfoundation.co.uk) does point out that a very mild winter can lead to buds forming in February (which can be a risk: once the juices start rising, later frost IS a big problem) so the plant doesn't actually require cold for bud development; it just needs to avoid frost once its growing season starts proper.As long as there are frosts in January, it'll keep things in check. It's only a month since we lost the last leaves on ours, so a more sustained mild spell will be needed to reverse things. Otherwise, you couldn't grow blackcurrants in parts of the SW at all.

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One worrying thing though- I have some roses still in leaf and all the plants have some serious mildew. It's not looking too good either in the greenhouse- it needs some real cleaning over Christmas