Crops hit by lack of rain: Farmer fear poor cereal and vegetable harvest

DROUGHT conditions could have a damaging effect on East Yorkshire's cereal and vegetable harvest.

Worried farmers say the lack of rainfall in March and April has put crops such as beans and spring cereals under serious pressure.

Farmers are now praying for rain amid fears the yields of all crops will be down and prices will rise in shops and supermarkets.

The food and farming industry is facing a double whammy – low global food stocks and extreme weather hitting growing crops.

East Yorkshire farmers and growers have not had to cope with such a prolonged dry spell since the drought of summer 1976.

Farmer John Clappison, of Risby Park Farm, near Beverley, said: "An inch of rain over the next seven days will make a tremendous difference.

"If we don't get the rainfall all crops will suffer and there will be the potential for a really poor cereal and vegetable harvest.

"At the moment, some crops look better than others, but they all need water and that it why immediate rain is so vital."

Normally 50mm of rainfall a month is recorded in the Beverley area, but so far this April there has been just 4mm.

Mr Clappison, who grows sprouts, vining peas and cereals, said: "The food market is now international and dependent on the weather.

"A year ago cereal stocks were high, but a huge drought in Russia last summer has turned oversupply into undersupply, with soaring prices.

"Current extreme weather in the UK, US and Australia is hitting crops, so the food market could be facing a double whammy."

The drought has led to grass stopping growing, which is bad news for farmers who graze cattle and sheep and make fodder crops, such as hay and silage.

Farmer Paul Temple, of Wold Farm, Driffield, said: "We are really concerned that it has become very dry so early.

"This is the time of the year when cattle are turned out to pastures and in a normal time there is plenty of grass for them to eat, but not this year.

"What has happened this spring shows how difficult it is for farmers to work with the weather."

Mr Temple said some farmers had licences to extract water from bore holes and streams to irrigate crops, but that was not an option for everybody.

He said: "The real concern is over the supply and availability of vegetables and as every week goes by the need for rainfall becomes more critical."

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