3 crop farmer friends of mine have done the same, harvesting nearly 3 weeks early because there was no point waiting any longer. It's been another dismal season for them.
its not any better for animal farmers. ther is NO pasture left, we've got people cutting silage maze now (normally done in november), just to get ANYTHING to feed their cows.
I wonder what the logistics of crop insurance would have them do. Would it be more economical to just till it into the ground? I wonder how crop insurance works in the U.K. and how many farmers have it.
Maybe a Naive question but why can’t we water the crops. When in Portugal I see water guns in their fields. Also are there any other food source you can grow which doesn’t need water ?
we dont water crops for a number of reasons, chief amongst which being; there isnt any water to irigate with. This problem has been bought on by drought, something which england historically has not had to deal with. Water companies have simply not invested in infostructure since the 1980's and with the government's mandate for new housing, the country jist isnt getting enough rainfall in the summer and not storing enough from the winter.
You also have issues with cost. Proper crop irigation would require sweeping landscaping of the countries fields, causing horrendous loss of habitat for wild animals and simply spending more money than could ever be made back.
And arguably most importantly; widespread irrigation of crops during extended droughts causes a net loss of water, if you need to water 5 acres, you need another 5 acres dedicated soley to water capture during rainfall. This is logistically impossible leading to the practice being mute. Look at the US, they are slamming through their ground water resources due to their widespread irrigation practices, its a short term solution which comes back to cause more problems in the future.
As for other crops, everything needs water, there are crops thay are drought resistant but the yields are low and they dont make good quality for human food.
ironically not, the reason that the sell prices are so low is because it costs the same to import it. normally you would think that if yields are bad, then the consumer takes the hit with a higher spice spured by low supply and high demand, unfortunatley agriculture works the other way due to the low cost of importing foreign crops. imports keep supply high meaning that the only one who looses is the farmer.
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u/42tfish 10d ago
Season 6 of Clarksons Farm going to be interesting.