Suffolk farmers pin hopes on spring after autumn nightmare

At the same time, sugar beet growers have faced a nightmare trying to harvest their crops as machines get bogged down in the mud - ruining the soil.

Livestock farmers have had to move their sheep off flooded land causing logistical problems and adding to their costs.

Mike Porter, who farms at Walpole, near Halesworth, described conditions this autumn and winter as "pretty abysmal" from a farming perspective.

"To be honest, in my 50 years of farming I would say this is the worst autumn/winter we have had weather-wise - certainly with the amount of water we have had," he said.

"It just highlights to the general public how dependent on the weather we are."

Storm Babet in October was followed by yet more storms which dumped unseasonable amounts of water on already saturated fields.

Some undeveloped seedlings were washed away, others stood in water too long causing them to rot.

When Storm Babet struck Suffolk with its full force on October 20, some farmers were well ahead with the autumn sowing - but the unlucky ones were not.

In many cases - without a suitable window to get their winter crops drilled - many of those farmers have decided to resort to spring sowing.

But that comes with its own problems as prices have shot up and some spring seeds are scarcer as a result of higher demand.

There is also the problem of weather volatility. They are pinning their hopes on benign spring conditions with enough moisture, warmth and sunshine to get crops off to a good start - but spring weather has been notoriously fickle over the past few seasons.

Stephen Rash, who farms at Wortham, near Diss, said about 80% of his crops got away fine because of early drillings before Storm Babet but his concern is over the other 20% - and his winter wheat crop.

"We are looking at them and thinking: 'Are they going to make it or aren't they?' 

"I think we are going to have to replace 5ha but the other 25ha we will leave them - but it won't be a great crop. We have got 25ha of wheat that looks pretty scruffy," he said.

"The early part was pretty good but the weather from Storm Babet onwards has rather ruined things."

However, compared to a lot of people he acknowledges he has got off lightly.

"We have had two or three very heavy rain instances since the autumn. Some of our meadows that normally flood for two or three weeks have been under water since October," he said. "Every year is different - this is one of the worse ones. It sets you back without a doubt."

Added to the weather, farmers are facing a host of worries - including high prices and a less generous payment scheme under the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) compared to the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) - which is being phased out, he said. 

"To be honest, it's as miserable a time for farming as I can remember," said Stephen. "I have to say I'm glad I'm not starting up now but there are people who are.

"Everything keeps going up in price but our output costs don't go anywhere near it."

Mike said although he had bought in his seed in time, he had heard in some places it had quadrupled in price.

As his land is well drained, he hasn't taken too much of a hit compared to others, he said, but the water table was now full to capacity.

"There's going to be quite a lot of land that's flooded and therefore won't make a crop. We either have the option of redrilling with another crop or going into the environmental SFI where we are paid a certain amount to put it to birds and bees but that's just for that year," he said.

Those who don't think their crops are going to be valuable or profitable enough to grow may well end up taking up the SFI route, he said - but that means they won't be producing food any more.

On the plus side, Suffolk National Farmers' Union (NFU) chairman Andrew Blenkiron of the Euston Estate, near Thetford, said he had been able to replenish his farm reservoirs from the rivers, and they were nearly full now.

However, his cereals were sitting in relatively saturated soils and were not rooting as they might, he said.

The farm - a lot of which was on light, free draining land - had got off relatively lightly but he was still waiting for a dry period to harvest some sugar beet.

"Thankfully this week has made a difference - it's dried it out," he said. 

They did find a dry enough slot to plant some carrots, which were now developing under plastic.

Sheeps on some of flood-hit meadows had to be moved elsewhere, he said. "We have had to find feed for them," he added. 

Overall it was one of the worst autumns he had experienced in a few years, he said, and would rank among the worst 10%.

It was still too early to assess what kind of spring to expect, he said, as it was still a month to six weeks away. 

Suffolk NFU deputy chairman Glenn Buckingham of Helmingham, near Debenham, said Storm Babet and the autumn weather meant that last year was one of his wettest with 870mm of ran compared to an average of 560mm  to 600mm. But some had fared far worse with over 1m of rain in 2023.

He managed to get some sowing done in November but when he met with other farmers this week some had not managed to get any sowing done.

"That's because of the weather," he said. "There's volatility in our weather and volatility in our markets and the pressure points are absorbed on our farms."

"It's a testing situation for the resilience of our farm," he said.