Government: no crops, flooded farmland: it’s time all challenges to the food system were addressed

Professor Timothy Lang deplores the fact that at present, ”There is not sufficient political support to address the challenges the food system causes for the environment, health, development, culture and the economy”.

This vitally important message is delivered clearly and forcefully in his latest book, Feeding Britain.

Vast swathes of farmland are still under water following an unprecedented period of flooding, with 11 named storms since September and the wettest 18 months on record. The Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board has predicted that wheat yields will be down 15%, winter barley down 22% and oilseed rape down 28% – the biggest drop since the 1980s.

Emma Gatten reports that Joe Stanley, an arable and livestock farmer at a research farm in Leicestershire, said he and his colleagues were facing the first year without a harvest since the land was first farmed after the war.

“Unless it basically stops raining today and then it becomes nice and sunny and windy, we’re not going to get any crops in this year. That’s a real danger,” he said. “Many farmers will be in the same situation.”

Record rainfall has meant that a lot of farmland is still under water, as on this farm near Bangor-on-Dee, Wales

Agriland, on Tuesday, April 9, points out that the UK government’s Farming Recovery Fund will support farmers who suffered uninsurable damage to their land. Eligible farmers are being contacted directly by the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) and will be able to access grants of between £500 and £25,000 to return their land to the condition it was in before “exceptional flooding” due to Storm Henk.

A day later Emma Gatten reported that though Henry Ward’s 200-acre farm in Lincolnshire (above) has been flooded since October, after the neighbouring Barlings Eau river broke its banks during repeated storms, he is not eligible for compensation for 160 acres of the land under the Government’s new flood fund. Mr Ward will only receive £2,000 for compensation on 40 acres of the land, despite all 200 acres being under water.

Today’s Guardian explains that this is because the Barlings Eau river does not count as a major river in the government’s scheme.  It’s time to cut the red tape like the European Union (paywall).

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