Weather

This week from Farmers Guardian editor Olivia Midgley (January 5)

UK farming industry struggling to cope with four months of continuous rain

Winter is definitely here, both in a meteorological sense and in a farm management sense

Potato growers who were unable to get on their fields made their way to the British Potato Show in Harrogate, Yorkshire, last week. The weather was a hot topic, but so was the long-term future of the sector.

There is no escaping the weather. Like every farm in the UK, we have been battered over the past few weeks

The fires ranged from crops, building and farm equipment and was an increase from 1,800 fires reported in 2021

Heavy rainfall sees fields of potatoes, sprouts and parsnips washed away

The UK potato crop is expected be one of the smallest on record this year

A wet UK summer has meant pumpkins are bigger than normal, but waste experts believe it could create hundreds of tonnes of additional food waste.

Farmers have been urged to act now to secure their farm ahead of Storm Agnes