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The effects of the recent winter flooding are now becoming clear as the waters finally subside especially where they apply to the farming industry. Those in the south west of the UK have been uniquely affected. Wheat yields are at their lowest since the 1980’s and the potato crop has suffered terribly with its yield being the lowest since 1976.


Livestock farmers are also feeling the effects as the price of animal feed has soared. Farmers were forced to keep their animals indoors as their fields flooded rather than allow their stock to graze as normal and consequently were using up far more feed than usual.


For some the effects of the winter floods threaten to be truly devastating. Figures released recently from the Dept of Environment, Food and Rural affairs confirm the bleak picture. Dairy farmers have seen their income plunge by up to 42%. Livestock and pig farmers too have seen their incomes as much as halved and there were double digit decreases for cereal and crop farmers too. Some have even seen their profits completely wiped out and the Farm Crisis Network have noted significant increases in levels of debt as farmers look to the banks for credit. They continue by stating that in an average year it is quite typical to see one area of farming affected by adverse weather conditions – say arable or sheep ,but in the last 12 months every aspect of farming has been affected.


Not surprisingly some are throwing in the towel completely. This is especially true amongst dairy farmers (there were 36000 dairy producers back in 1995 compared with 15000 today) but the attention is now shifting towards sheep farmers who are losing as much as £29 for each lamb they sell due to the increasing cost of feed, wet weather related diseases and increased competition from New Zealand farmers who are able to undercut them.


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