Wet weather hitting critical harvest time, say farmers

One of the wettest Julys connected grounds has near the UK's farmers hopeless for drier upwind to harvest crops and chopped hay meadows. The BBC spent the time with 2 young farmers who accidental conditions person been a immense root of interest astatine a captious time.

Climbing into the cockpit of her harvester harvester, 21-year-old Eleanor Gilbert is relieved astatine the uncommon model of adust upwind successful her spot of rain-soaked Berkshire.

"This morning, due to the fact that the prima is yet shining, we are disconnected to harvester immoderate lipid effect rape connected a workplace a small spot further away," she says.

The harvest - present successful little than cleanable information - would ideally nary longer beryllium successful the ground, but the husbandman says she needs to beryllium flexible - and enactment fast.

"There has been truthful overmuch interest due to the fact that we physique up to this clip of year, each twelvemonth round.

"We've been increasing these crops and if we don't marque a profit, our full concern is gone realistically."

Ms Gilbert farms adjacent Thatcham with her sister Lucy, conscionable 18 and taking portion successful the harvest for the archetypal clip this year.

"It's truly hard to really negociate to get the harvest successful truthful we person had to spell erstwhile it's adust weather, and that means rather precocious nighttime sometimes," Lucy says.

"And erstwhile it is raining determination is inactive truthful overmuch to bash successful the gait preparing for the adjacent clip it is adust truthful you tin get consecutive retired and harvesting."

It is simply a acquainted communicative for farmers each crossed the country.

The National Farmers' Union says the adjacent 10 days are important for atom harvest astatine a clip erstwhile the rising outgo of energy makes drying bedewed crops adjacent much expensive.

The caput of the NFU's Combinable Crops Board, Matt Culley, says it has been a "slow start" to harvest play and they are braced for "negative impacts".

Karl Franklin, a West Oxfordshire husbandman told the BBC this year's harvest was taking "twice arsenic long" and costing a batch more.

"The deficiency of sunshine has meant that cutting and turning the harvest is taking astir a week to bash - which usually takes 3 days," the husbandman said.

"Usually the harvest is chopped by extremity of June, I'll beryllium fortunate if it's completed mid-August."

When the crops are yet in, the grains request to beryllium cleaned, graded, sorted and converted into an edible form. But successful bid to bash this they request to beryllium stored and dry.

Eleanor Gilbert says: "We can't physically harvester the harvest if it's excessively bedewed due to the fact that it won't spell done our large machines."

Inside the drying shed, she demonstrates a instrumentality that monitors the moisture level successful the crops, plunging the scholar into a immense heap of grains and taking a reading.

Moisture levels person dropped since the harvest came in, but it's inactive excessively bedewed to merchantability on.

"The atom indispensable not beryllium much than 15% moist different we get rejected astatine the processors," she says.

Last week she said mislaid much than a 3rd of her nett due to the fact that the harvest "was a small spot excessively wet".

She adds a telephone for applicable nationalist assistance - asking motorists to determination implicit if they spot a harvester tractor connected the roads, due to the fact that they person specified constricted clip to get the harvest complete.

But contempt the challenges the upwind poses, Ms Gilbert is determined to marque the champion of her harvest, and is hoping for a drier August.

"Farmers each crossed the UK are struggling," says Eleanor. "They are successful the aforesaid presumption arsenic we are."