A PERFECT storm of weather has plunged our farmers into crisis.
An extremely wet 2012 twinned with the very cold start to this year has heaped strain on the countryside. Arable farmers still haven't sown some crops that should have been in the ground since the autumn, animal feed is running out and pastures are bare.
Thousands of sheep and lambs have died in Wales and the north of England in a bitterly extended winter. While conditions in East Surrey have not been so severe, it is still the worst period in living memory.
Richard Kent has 450 cows – kept for milk and meat – and also grows crops at 11,000-acre Crossways Farm in Reigate, where he has lived all his life. He says the situation is critical, with some farmers living hand to mouth.
"It has become so serious because of the very poor and disappointing harvest last year, there was almost no sunshine through the summer and the quality of the feed the farmers did manage to make was very poor. And, of course, we have had a long and very cold winter and a lot of people are running out of feed for their animals," the 65-year-old said.
"Feed is becoming very expensive. I know some people are using straw they would usually use for bedding and eking out their feed with it.
"Sheep are lambing now, but the sheep themselves are in poor condition. The grass they have been eating all winter is poor. Things really are brutal.
"I have never known a year like the last 12 months and all my contemporaries can't think of any that have been as difficult.
"Usually all my crops for the coming harvest are sown in September or October, but here we are in April and we are only just starting to sow crops. It is affecting the whole farming spectrum."
The wet and cold has left a £500 million black hole in farming, according to the National Farmers Union.
The knock-on effects will be felt in coming months and years, and consumers are also being warned that prices will rise.
