NFU Report: Relentless rain brings misery to farmers

First, the good news: Defra suspended the waterlogged soils directive (GAEC3) this morning after pressure from the NFU. Hilary Benn cited an NFU letter requesting a temporary suspension as the primary reason for his decision. His move has offered some small cheer to an otherwise awful week in the fields. Click here for more.

The NFU is currently pulling together a national picture of the implications of this summer"e;s weather. Rainfall in August was well above average and the hours of sunshine were the lowest since records began in 1929. This has clearly had a major impact on the cereal harvest, but also on the silage and hay harvest with very little hay made and limited second and third cuts of silage crops taken. There are indications that the weather is affecting the quality of grass which, in turn, is hitting milk production and finishing livestock off grass. There are also problems with staggers in cattle, diseases such as mildew and blight in crops. Coupled with this, we have serious flooding problems in some parts of the country with many acres of crops under water. In many cases this is a repeat of last year.

The poor weather will also result in longer-term implications for the industry such as quantity and quality of fodder stocks, planting of oilseed rape and the resulting changes to cropping plans. Earlier housing of livestock and poaching of pasture land will also take its toll.