Could it be that this year, for the first time since the second world war, some UK farms will not produce a harvest? Not even a grain? It may sound like hyperbole, but as an agronomist friend of mine told me recently: these are the worst growing conditions in living memory. The only thing being sown right now is panic.
There are farms with sheds full of seed that will never go in the ground
The problem is the sheer amount of rain that has fallen recently. Farmers can’t plant seeds in rain. And on average, a crop – once drilled – can only be submerged in water for up to 21 days and still produce a viable harvest. After that the game is usually up.
One farm I know of has an average rainfall of 850mm. We’re now only a third of the year in and it has already had 650mm. Not far from where I live in Wiltshire there is an arable field that has been permanently underwater for four months.
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