by With his farm almost completely surrounded by the banks of the Severn in north Shropshire, Ed Tate is used to flooding on his land – but this year, the actual level of rainfall is the worst he has ever seen.
He points to a field where about 20% of wheat crops have failed because they are covered with rainwater that has pooled in muddy puddles, in areas that would normally be a sea of green at the moment.
Over the hill, he struggles to drive his off-road vehicle through water-soaked bog fields as the rain pours down around him.
“I think in living memory this has been the worst winter we’ve had, just because of the wet weather we’ve seen, and we’ve had a lot of crops fail,” said Tate, who was running her 800 .-acre of mixed arable and livestock farm just outside Shrewsbury for about 20 years.
“We are losing thousands of pounds and there is no support. It means we will have to look at redundancies on the farm, unfortunately. We could break even with some crops. But for other farms, this could push them over the edge.”
Met Office data shows that from October 2022 to March 2024, England hit its highest rainfall in any 18-month period since records began in 1836.
Some farm crops have been completely destroyed, while many others have seen a significant reduction in yields. The Agricultural and Horticultural Development Board has predicted this year’s wheat yields will be down 15%, winter barley down 22% and oilseed rape down 28%, the biggest drop since the 1980s.
“I don’t really want to work out the numbers. We’ve lost thousands, if not thousands, of our income,” said Rory Lay, who works on his family’s 1,200-acre arable, beef and sheep farm north of Shrewsbury.
“It’s been relentless this winter, my waterproofs have worn off. It’s never nice, just walking in the rain – that mental aspect has been quite difficult for people this year and it’s still very wet.
“My father is of retirement age, and even he does not remember losing so many crops, bare fields and just water everywhere.”
Like many farmers, Lay is constantly checking the weather forecast, eagerly anticipating the wet conditions. “It’s even gotten to the point where you’re all comparing weather apps and looking for the slightest difference to give you hope,” he said.
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Last week the government opened a farming recovery fund scheme to help farmers recover from the effects of flooding from Storm Henk in January. But many areas, including low-lying north Shropshire, which are particularly vulnerable to wet weather, were not covered because they were not among the worst affected by the storm.
Most of the crops that were cut in the autumn have rotted during the wet conditions, and he is desperately trying to replant so that he can save his harvest. But the sodden soil is still too compacted to drill, leaving messy tracks in the fields where he tried to plant before giving up.
“I’m making more of a mess trying to alleviate the problem because it’s still too wet. I’m trying to have that patience but we’re against that ticking clock,” he said.
“I have some fields where the whole crop is gone, and my yield is dropping every day. Another week and probably no point. It will cost as much to put it in and take it out as we get out of it. We are looking at a very tough 18 months ahead where we will have very low yields, because we have very little to sell.”
Helen Morgan, Lib Dem MP for North Shropshire, said the impact of the rain had been devastating across the industry.
“You can probably afford to have a poor winter drill top, but you also can’t afford to have a poor summer one. Farmers are struggling,” she said. “If we don’t get a little lucky in the next couple of weeks or so, we’re going to have a really tough harvest.”
She said longer-term government support to help farmers cope with heavy rain and flooding was essential, including incentives to support farmers who let their fields flood to prevent flooding further downstream.
But in the absence of financial assistance, most farms are in a race against time to plant in time for the summer harvest. Over on the South Lynn farm, in the east of the county, all hands are on deck to get potatoes in the ground as the soil slowly dries out.
The farm’s income comes from its arable plantings – potatoes and wheat – as well as its flower fields which are harvested for wedding confetti and open to the public in the summer for events.
“Everything is late – the potatoes are late, the wheat is late and the flowers are late to go in. If we can’t get planting in a week or two, it’s not going to work,” said Ashley Evers-Swindell , who helps run the farm’s flower business, Shropshire Petals. “To say he was stressed is an understatement.
“We could be losing 10 to 15% at the moment, and we’ve already lost about £80,000 from our potatoes because we’re planting late. In each park, we will probably lose about an acre of land under water.”
Kate Mayne, who runs local farmers’ group the National Farmers Union, said people were spreading fields on their family farm outside Shrewsbury at 02:00 when a clear weather window finally appeared.
“There’s a huge backlog of work right now, so when you can go out and do it, you have to go for it,” she said. “The rain has just been mind-blowing, we’ve had no respite from it, and the implications are huge.
“It’s a terrible thing for a lot of farmers out there.”
