Farmers warn of food shortages after floods
Record rainfall threatens to result in first season without a harvest since Second World War
FARMERS are warning of food shortages as record rainfall threatens to bring the first season without a harvest since the end of the Second World War .
Swathes of farmland are underwater following an unprecedented period of flooding, with 11 named storms since September and the wettest 18 months on record.
The Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board has predicted wheat yields will be down 15per cent, winter barley down 22per cent and oilseed rape down 28 per cent, the biggest drop since the 1980s.
Joe Stanley, a farmer at a research farm in Leicestershire, said he and his colleagues face the first year without a harvest since the land was first farmed after the Second World War. He said: “Unless it basically stops raining today and then it becomes nice and sunny and windy, we’re not going to get any crops in this year. That’s a real danger.”
Farmers are also facing the prospect that crops planted in the autumn will not have survived the flooding, the National Farmers Union (NFU) said. It warned that households could feel the effects of low crop yields and reduced lamb numbers because many have not survived the unseasonably cold temperatures and heavy rainfall.
“It’s no exaggeration to say a crisis is building,” Rachel Hallos, the NFU’S vice-president, said. “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.” She added that the situation was a “growing issue for UK food security”, and welcomed a new fund for farmers affected by flooding.
Mr Stanley said farms were facing “an existential moment” because of climate change, which could put many out of business, reducing UK food security.
“The problem that we’re facing is that weather is becoming so extreme that it is overwhelming our ability as farmers to continue to grow crops at all in some places,” he said.mark Chatterton, a director at business advisers Duncan & Toplis, has estimatesd that the impact on farm businesses could be significantly worse than the 2019 floods, which led to an 18 per cent reduction in profits. farms in areas hit by Storm Henk in January will be able to claim grants of between £500 and £25,000 under the new fund.
Mark Spencer, the farming minister, said it “will support farmers who suffered uninsurable damage with grants of up to £25,000, and sits alongside broader support in our farming schemes to improve flood resilience”.
It came as rescue operations were launched yesterday to deal with severe flooding caused by Storm Kathleen.
West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service dealt with a “severe incident” at Medmerry holiday park between Bracklesham and Selsey, urging anyone in the vicinity of the holiday park to get to high ground if they were able to leave their homes.the fire service also warned people in the seaside town of Littlehampton to get “as high as possible within their homes” after the River Arun burst its banks.
They said anyone requiring lifesaving intervention should dial 999 to contact the fire and rescue service or the coastguard.
“Please avoid the area and remain in your homes where possible to allow our crews to work safely,” the emergency service said.
More than 200 people were evacuated in West Sussex.
The evacuations included around 180 people rescued overnight from Medmerry Holiday Park in Earnley and around 15 from Ferry Road and Rope Walk in Littlehampton, West Sussex County Council said.
A resident of Shoreham-by-sea in West Sussex said flooding in the town was “unprecedented”, and he had stayed awake until the early hours putting flood defences around his property.
Gareth Theobald, 36, said: “I was out the front of the building and watching the water just get higher and higher and higher, and then helping or stopping traffic going into the floodwaters and then just watching in disbelief as the whole of Brighton Road and our multimillion-pound development was being engulfed by floodwaters.”
He added: “The amount of water is scary and unprecedented and those houses opposite our development are lower-ground flats and they were all flooded under a foot or so of water.”
He said he saw cars “driving into the floods at speed as well and getting stuck” and that “residents in the streets (were) trying to do what they can”.
In Falmouth, Cornwall, huge waves sent beach huts crashing into the sea.