Cereal farmers caught out by rains

29 August 1997

Cereal farmers caught out by rains

RICHARD WHITLOCK, wheat director of Banks Agriculture, said 35%-55% of cereal
was still in the ground in areas such as Lincolnshire and Yorkshire. A summer of
extremes has wreaked havoc on the harvest. Many farmers crops have been left
too wet to harvest.

Two farmers, Greg Wrapson, of Walk Farm, Little Weighton, in the
East Riding of Yorkshire and Oliver Walston, of Thriplow,
Cambridgeshire, describe how the climate has hit their crops.

But John Errington, who grows 607.05ha (1,500 acres) of cereals, at
Toddington, Bedfordshire, got his harvest in a week ago before the rains. His
yields were slightly better than average, he said.