Wettest Summer ever spells disaster for farmers

In what's been the wettest summer in Mullingar since records began in 1950, rainfall of 196mm fell during the month of July, while August wasn't much better, leaving local farmers facing a crisis going into the winter of 2009.Relentless driving wind and rain, soft ground and unstable market prices means that farmers are being hit on all sides, making it impossible for them to make ends meet out of this year's crop."This summer has been anything but good for farmers," commented Teagasc Tillage Specialist Michael Hennessy, who explained to the Westmeath Examiner that not alone is the weather making harvesting hugely difficult, but prices are half of what they were two years ago."There is only 25% to 30% of the total harvest complete at the moment, and with the continuous bad weather, 70% of the crop is still waiting to be saved," said Mr. Hennessy."High winds and driving rain are literally beating the crops into the ground. And added to that is the heat, which is inducing the crop to sprout. So if you've ever heard of that film 'The Perfect Storm', that is what farmers are going through at the moment."With fields waterlogged, it's proving difficult for farmers to bring the necessary heavy machinery into the fields."They stand to lose a lot of money, if they can even make a living at all," said Mr. Hennessy."I've been taking calls from farmers and it's hard to know what to say to them: they are just unbelievably depressed."The only option is the straw market, if it can be saved, and tillage growers are also looking at alternative ways of selling grain, such as storing it sheds and supplying to farmers for feed throughout the winter, but of course this option doesn't suit everybody."Freddie Murray, a tillage farmer from Bunbrosna declares he hasn't seen such a bad summer since 1984/5."Normally the wheat should be in by the second week in August. The last year I saw this bad was 1984 and 1985. That was probably worse because the crops went completely flat, and we were there trying to pick up what we could, to salvage what we could; there were crops that we failed to get altogether," said Freddie."The crops are standing reasonably well at the minute but it would take very little to flatten them now because they are starting to bend in places," he continued. While his spring barley is doing alright, he knows it's not going to be enough to save him from making a loss this year."I'd be afraid to work it out, but if we get it as it is in the next week or two, I'd say I'll be losing one hundred euro an acre - provided I get to harvest what's there. That's with the price being down so low, yields are not hectic and then the high moisture is bringing the money way down - you could have 20% gone on moisture," he said."I brought wheat in on Tuesday - I shouldn't be cutting it by right, but I was averaging 28% and I brought 40 odd tonne in. It had to be done because I've seen it before: if you don't do a little bit, you'll lose it completely."The biggest problem now is travelling on the ground: the fields are just a disaster to try and get through. We're hoping to get something out of it but it's not going to cover our costs this year."My only saving grace is that I have no land rented, I gave that up a few years ago. There are some people who would be under serious pressure now because I don't know where they're going to get the money to pay for the land and they'll have no money for themselves to live on."