Wet summer means farmers wheat crops rot in the fields

headlines claim farmers are on a roll and land prices are skyrocketing, but the farming press broods over broke farmers being driven from the land. Wheat is uncut, threatening to go black, and it costs a packet to grow.

Farming is weather management, or, strange thought, farming is a passive activity. Weather determines all.

You cannot crop your wheat if the field is so wet your combine harvester gets stuck, or if the corn ears are sodden. If wheat goes mouldy the cheap option is to plough it back in.

Whilst late 2007 wheat prices rose to a profitable £190 a ton, they have dropped by two thirds today.

By tomorrow, if the rain fails to abate, traders may smell shortages: they could go up again. Oil price is drowsy by comparison.

One reason is that oil is driven partially by demand. Food is not. In the west at any rate, it is not an option to forego food. That is why objectors to support for farmers are off-target.