National Farmers’ Union says only farms in south-east England able to start harvest

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

August’s wet weather has brought this year’s wheat harvest to a “shuddering halt”, the deputy president of the National Farmers’ Union has said.

Guy Smith said farmers outside the south-east of England had been left unable start their harvest their crop because of heavy rainfall this month.

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He said the wet weather had made it more difficult to use combine harvesters in the fields.“It has brought the harvest to a shuddering halt for the past 10 days, outside of the south-east,” he said.

“The good news is that yields seem to be above average, but the bad news is that the price is significantly on the slide, not helped because of a heavy harvest.”

Smith said farmers in the south-east had been able to begin their harvest earlier because of earlier hot weather, but that very little had been done in the west and north of England.

“We are not quite sure what the impact is yet,” he said.

Smith said 60% to 70% of the UK’s wheat is harvested between August and September.