Farmers warn of zero harvest

[dan_b]

Normally behind a paywall but I was able to read this ok. I'll copy in the opening paragraphs in any case as they kind of sum up the problem.

Farmers are warning of food shortages as record rainfall threatens to bring the first season without a harvest on some farms since the end of the Second World War. Vast swathes of farmland are still under water following an unprecedented period of flooding, with 11 named storms since September and the wettest 18 months on record.

The Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board has predicted that wheat yields will be down 15 per cent, winter barley down 22 per cent and oilseed rape down 28 per cent – the biggest drop since the 1980s. Joe Stanley, an arable and livestock farmer at a research farm in Leicestershire, said he and his colleagues were facing the first year without a harvest since the land was first farmed after the war.

“Unless it basically stops raining today and then it becomes nice and sunny and windy, we’re not going to get any crops in this year. That’s a real danger,” he said. “Many farmers will be in the same situation.”

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/0 ... -two-rain/

[Fintray]

And at the other end of the spectrum:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-68665826

[dan_b]

It's not great is it

[Fintray]

[AE-NMidlands]

Now picked up by the Grauniad. https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... ll-farmers

Record-breaking rain in recent months has drastically reduced the amount of food produced in the UK, farming groups have said.

Livestock and crops have been affected as fields have been submerged since last autumn.

It has been an exceptionally wet 18 months. According to the Met Office, 1,695.9mm of rain fell from October 2022 to March 2024, the highest amount for any 18-month period in England in recorded history. The Met Office started collecting data in 1836.
The UK will be reliant on imports for wheat in the coming year and potentially beyond because of the drastic reduction in yields.

Prices of goods such as bread and other food made using grains are already rising and are likely to rise further, according to the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB).
etc.

The BBC R4 farming programme has been reporting this for a while, I'm glad it is getting some mainstream coverage now too, so hopefully the cloth-eared government will realise how bad the economic crisis is in lots of our farming sector, also they will ensure that Whitehall doesn't evade paying. Too much allocated public money ends up being returned to the Treasury (supposedly justifying further tax-cuts on the basis of government "efficiency") because the civil service makes it impossible to access. The article ends

The government has opened a farming recovery fund scheme, under which eligible farmers can access grants of between £500 and £25,000 to return their land to the condition it was in before exceptional flooding due to Storm Henk in January.

The farming minister, Mark Spencer, said: “I know how difficult this winter has been for farmers, with extreme weather such as Storm Henk having a devastating impact on both cropping and grazing, as well as damaging property and equipment.
“The farming recovery fund will support farmers who suffered uninsurable damage with grants of up to £25,000, and sits alongside broader support in our farming schemes to improve flood resilience.”

I'm pleased to see a disaster fund, but £500 probably isn't worth the effort of applying for it, and £25k isn't much of a lifeline either. On top of that, we know how good they are at actually shelling out (not.)

[ecogeorge]

The lack of crops planted , the amount of farmers planting funded cover crops and wild flowers is a big ptoblem.
The knock on effect to other Agricultural bussiness's is huge (KTWO trailers already bust) -there will be big players going out this year and food will be dear.
BUT its fine the UK gov will trawl the dustbins of the world for cheap food.........
Just read the farming forums to see how hated and unloved farmers feel...........

[AE-NMidlands]

The government has opened a farming recovery fund scheme, under which eligible farmers can access grants of between £500 and £25,000 to return their land to the condition it was in before exceptional flooding due to Storm Henk in January.
The farming minister, Mark Spencer, said: “I know how difficult this winter has been for farmers, with extreme weather such as Storm Henk having a devastating impact on both cropping and grazing, as well as damaging property and equipment.
“The farming recovery fund will support farmers who suffered uninsurable damage with grants of up to £25,000, and sits alongside broader support in our farming schemes to improve flood resilience.”

I'm pleased to see a disaster fund, but £500 probably isn't worth the effort of applying for it, and £25k isn't much of a lifeline either. On top of that, we know how good they are at actually shelling out (not.)

And here is the evidence of their hypocricy:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... rom-rivers

Farmers who have their entire cropping land submerged underwater have found they are ineligible for a government flooding hardship fund – because their farms are too far from a major river.
...
John Charles-Jones is an arable farmer based in Nottinghamshire. He said he was six miles from the nearest river and not eligible for the fund. His farm has been waterlogged since Storm Babet in October, with most of his topsoil washed away, making it unviable for cropping.
His losses are expected to go into six figures as he planted a third of his planned crops in the autumn before the rain hit, and only 10%-15% of that planted crop will be viable.
Charles-Jones pointed out the farming minister, MarkWorth reading the whole article. Spencer, was himself from a farming background in Nottinghamshire, one of the worst-affected counties, but that farmers in the area had been blocked from the fund.

“The eligibility criteria for recipients are completely flawed,” he said, “How could anyone take so long to come up with such nonsense? I don’t think I have ever witnessed such an ill-thought-out scheme. It is difficult to know quite where to start in picking it all to pieces. For once I had higher hopes, with farming minister Mark Spencer actually living and farming in one of the worst-affected counties.”

Andrew Naish, also from Nottinghamshire, said he had faced the same problem. “Whilst grants are technically available, it looks like you will have to have walked on the moon to qualify,” he said. “We, like many farmers, have suffered flooding and large financial losses this winter but fail to meet the criteria for claiming because the government has set the parameters at unachievable levels.” etc.

[dan_b]

let's try and steer clear of the politics of it all - the heavy rains are bad enough!

[CrofterMannie]

*some* farmers warn of zero harvest!
The last 18 months have been pretty much bang on average rainfall for us.