Farmers suffering after wet summer

Farmers suffering after wet summer

19 September 2012 - by BY CIARA COLHOUN

LECALE farmers are facing their worst harvest for 30 years as the wettest summer since 1983 draws to a close.

There is despondency across the farming community with records showing 50 inches of rain have fallen across Lecale this year compared to a typical local average of around 30 inches.

Farmers’ only remaining hope for business is that an Indian summer may help soften the blow by giving them the opportunity to take in their surviving crops.

One of the district’s leading cereal farmers, Alan Chambers, from Seaforde, said farmers had already faced a difficult start to the season last autumn when they struggled to establish their crops in unusually wet ground.

Despite a good spring, he said things turned bad once again at the end of May when it started to rain. He said the rainfall had been relentless ever since.

“We had the worst June on record, which resulted in poor pollination,” he said. “Twenty per cent of our grain did not pollinate, which is very unusual and is a significant early loss, while the damp conditions were conducive to blight.

“Despite the use of fungicides, we were not able to control that and yields were down by a third.

“September has also been a difficult month even though the harm was done before the crop was ready to harvest with the high level of disease and unfertilised grains.”

Mr. Chambers predicts a significant fall in income for farmers as a result and says the problems of this year’s harvest are being talked about throughout the farming community.

Mr. Chambers, who supplies seed meals for poultry and cattle, said he is not yet sure if the harvest he does bring in will meet minimum quality standards, which he said is a very usual concern for him.

“This is something we do not normally have a problem with but because of the weather even the grains that have survived have not filled out properly.

“This has put a lot of pressure on the farming community in general. But we cannot control the weather so you have to be stoical about it.”

Ballyculter organic beef farmer, John Carson, has also confirmed one of the most difficult summers for farming in decades.

He said Lecale in particular had experienced a dramatic rise in typical rainfall levels, meaning all types of farmers were being affected.

“It does not matter if you are doing cereal farming, livestock farming or growing potatoes, we are all affected,” he said.

“The ground is too wet for cattle and the quality of feed is down, which means farmers will have to spend more to feed their livestock.

“The lack of sunshine also affects the cattle because they have not had the chance to sun themselves and put on weight.

“I would say at the present time farmers feel disorientated because of the poor summer, but we are also mindful that everyone else is having to tighten their belts because of the current economic climate.

“If we could get three or four weeks of good weather now it would help us forget the bad weather, we always have to live in hope.”