A forthcoming visit to Florida's Everglades, the world-renowned National Park and wetland wilderness, might seem no more than a holiday for most UK farmers.
But Chris Moore, who with brother David farms 486ha (1200 acres) of reclaimed flat warp soils at sea level at Fleet Farm, West Butterwick near Scunthorpe, believes it could offer an insight into the way their land might eventually have to be managed.
Already uncertainty over what could happen to the area should sea level rise and recent weather patterns of frequent, heavy rains continue has prompted the pair to reconsider their operations.
Two-thirds of their 14ha (34 acres) of sugar beet remained waterlogged and unharvested last week.
"This year 
will be our last with it," says Chris. "I want more crops that grow out of the ground rather than in it."
Seasonal inundation
A worrying note in a recent Environment Agency report to Isle of Axholme Drainage Board, on which he sits, is that "flooding" will henceforth be called "seasonal inundation" - a subtle change of emphasis, he believes.
An EA meeting in March should, he hopes, clarify picture on the fate of the whole low-lying area. "Serious money will have to be spent round here if farming is to continue.
"We don't have to farm. I could turn my hand to anything - even if it means running a wildlife park. But we need to know what's going to happen."
The brothers already grow a lot more combinable crops than only recently on the all-arable unit.
Expansion
Having taken over from their father in the early 1990s they rapidly expanded the business concentrating on root production.
"In 2001 we put in two new cold stores, new roads, an office block and two new grading lines for the beetroot and potatoes at a cost of £600,000 with help from a DEFRA processing and marketing grant.
"At one time we got up to 400 acres of beetroot and 200 acres of potatoes."
However, mainly because of flooding concern, the area of Pablo beetroot for supermarkets via a nearby processing plant has been halved and potatoes dropped.
"In June last year we had 100 acres of beetroot under water which was heart-breaking. We didn't lose them completely, but got just 6t/acre instead of the 24 we expect."
Simpler system
So for now, until the way ahead is clearer, the focus is on a simpler system with potatoes and the balance of the contracted beetroot required being grown by other farmers.
This season there are 210ha (520 acres) of winter wheat. "Half is Alchemy and half Cordiale because it's early."
Yields, given no flooding, can be up to 12.4t/ha (5t/acre).
"We also have 250 acres of winter barley, all Carat, for the first time for ages. It's beginning to stack up again. And I'm seriously considering bringing in oilseed rape."
The staff of five, including BASIS-trained sprayer operator Mark Smithson, who runs a trailed Rau 24m machine, seems heavy. "But we still have a lot of roots to deal with." And disposing of the processing plant's washings is significant regular operation, he points out.
Advice
Agronomy advice is from Masstock's Steve Portas, and all inputs come through the Woldmarsh co-op buying group.
Cereal establishment remains via plough, power-harrow and combination drill. "I'm a bit of a dinosaur," says Chris. "The men keep asking when we're going to go min-till. But we can drill 45 acres a day, and some min-till machinery is terribly expensive."
To cope with the extra cereal area a new MF Cerea 7274 combine will replace an MF36RS. All four tractors are also MF on the strength of good local back-up.
Storage
Grain drying and storage should pose few problems, he believes. "We use an Opico mobile and on-floor blowers. We could always use one of the cold stores, and we sell a lot off the combine."
That policy was fortuitously rewarding last harvest. "We sold half our wheat in the first week of September - at £170/t!
"It all goes to two or three merchants. But I don't like selling much until I actually have it. So I'll maybe do 10% before harvest and the rest 'spot'."
About 40ha (100 acres) is in Countryside Stewardship and Entry Level Stewardship 6m grassed headlands, providing valuable watercourse protection from sprays.
There are also 20ha (50 acres) of over-wintered stubbles, some under ELS. And despite the very open nature of the farm, deer are regularly spotted, he notes.
Fleet Farm
- 486ha warpland all arable
- At sea level and flood-prone
- Crops: Beetroot, sugar beet and winter cereals
- 60ha in stewardship schemes