Weather threatening wheat harvest

Bad weather predicted for East Anglia and the south of England spells bad news for farmers already struggling with the harvest.

The National Farmers' Union (NFU) said three-quarters of Britain's wheat had yet to be cut after a rainy summer.

NFU officials said farmers were hoping for an Indian summer so that wet crops could dry before being harvested.

But forecasters warn of more rain and this will increase farmers' costs as fuel may be needed to dry the grain.

"About 20 to 25% of the national wheat crop has been cut now, and ripening crops that remain are increasingly vulnerable to weather damage to quality, particularly in southern and eastern regions," said an NFU spokesman.

"With drying grain much more expensive than previous years, due to steep increases in fuel cost, farmers are still hoping for a good long run of dry weather, ideally bringing moisture content to below 15% where drying would not be necessary."

He said the harvest in East Anglia was "taking a lot of getting" and 75% was still waiting to be cut.

"In other years, 90 to 100% of the region's crop would have been harvested by now," he added.

"Quality generally is said to be just about holding up, where farmers are taking the most valuable crops first, although milling quality is increasingly at risk."

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