Whatever you think about the rights and wrongs of this, it's not the best time to burn fields here at the moment, with temperatures in the high 90s

I'm no ecological expert but if buring the fields prevents further destruction of crops, it's fair enough. I know that the temperatures' has been really high in continental Europe at the moment but what difference is burning a few fields gonna make.

Sorry, I didn't make myself clear. When fields burn out here it is hard to control them. Everything is so dry the fire can spread very rapidly. There have already been as number of quite serious fires here this year due to crop burning and the fire service in rural areas often has great difficulty coping. I just hope that all precautions are set in place.