Record breaking rainfall has led to “existential crisis” for farmers in Dorset
Farmers across Dorset say they’ve been unable to plant crops due to torrential rain, resulting in concerns about future food security
Farmers in Dorset warn us extreme rainfall this year has “created a growing crisis" for food producers across the county.
Relentless heavy rain since last October is claimed to have left vast parts of agricultural land saturated and in many cases still under water.
Many arable farmers in the county have been left unable to plant crops while also losing those that were already in the ground.
Rob Appleby, owner of Wyke Farm near Beaminster, told us: “We're literally sloshing around in inches of water all over the farm at the moment.
“Getting to and from the farm has also proved difficult as there have been spells where the roads have been completely flooded or it’s just not been safe to go out there.
“We've got a window in the next couple of weeks where we can plant the rest of our crop but I don’t think it’s going to work because we just can't get the machinery on the land.”
The National Farmers Union also claim low spring temperatures are also 'having a brutal effect' on livestock, with fewer lambs being born this spring.
While farmers are bearing the brunt of it now, consumers may well see the effects through the year as produce simply doesn’t leave the farm gate.
Mr Appleby said: “We're losing lambs because lambs get very cold if they get wet and there’s a very high mortality rate.
“If this issue is affecting small farmers like us up and down the country, I can see there being a food security issue. I think we're running into an existential crisis which has not been helped by the weather.”
The NFU Vice President, Rachel Hallos added: “I have real worries for not just the financial situation of many NFU members, but also the impact this is having on them personally.”
Government have now set up a ‘Farming Recovery Fund’ in a bid to help farmers who have suffered “uninsurable” damage to their land because of flooding caused by recent storms.
Mr Appleby welcomed the grant: “It’s been widely reported that farming is not going through a good patch at the moment.
“We're seeing a rise in our agricultural inputs costs and for those farmers producing food, there are issues around transferring those prices onto retailers and supermarkets and our margins have been crushed.”