We are urgently developing research requirements with other European laboratories to make sure we understand and the disease (Schmallenberg) better.Farmers begin salvage operation after heavy flooding
FARMERS in Scotland are facing a major salvage operation after storms battered parts of the country last week, leaving fields flooded and crops sodden.
Already facing the prospect of a bad harvest following heavy rainfall in August, farmers were left to salvage what was left of their crops as some areas saw a month’s rainfall in just 24 hours.
In the North East, Aberdeen had its wettest September day since records began in 1943, with 67mm of rain falling in a day while in Lossiemouth, 76.4mm of rain fell in the same 24-hour period - 15mm more than the town’s monthly average.
Rural Affairs Secretary Richard Lochhead was forced to cancel a trip to Brussels for the latest Agriculture Council meeting in order to visit communities affected by the flooding as hundreds of homes were evacuated in Morayshire.
Meanwhile in central Scotland, the flooding added to the disruption caused by constant rain over the past month which has left farmers facing one of the worst harvests in recent years.
Ian Craig, who grows 113 hectres (280 acres) of potatoes and barley at Waterstone farm in Renfrewshire said harvest had been a ‘salvage operation’ from the start of the season.
He said: “It has rained non stop. In August we had 10.59 inches of rain and we have had 90mm in September already
“I started the spring barley three weeks ago and I have managed to bring in about 40 acres at a moisture level of around 30 per cent. You can’t get on at those levels because the cost of drying is horrendous. The potatoes have also suffered and the bottom fields are totally flooded.
“I have seen many a bad August before but you always get a few dry days in there when you can get out and bring something in, but this year the rain just hasn’t stopped.
“We have cut just 40 acres out of 280 in three weeks and at that rate I am not going to get it all done, I could lose hundreds of acres of crops.
“The price of barley is so low at the moment I wish I hadn’t sowed any now – I would have been better off if I’d sat doing nothing because it’s not much good to me now.”
As well as the immediate effects on the 2009 harvest, many farmers could see knock-on effects as time runs out to sow winter barley leaving them facing the prospect of another growing season hit by the wet summer.
There is however some good news, with better weather expected in the North of Scotland over the coming days and many farmers will now be hoping to salvage as much as they can from the 2009 harvest.
