Will Shakeshaft of Greens of Soham, who grows potatoes, beetroot and onions in East Anglia and also works with farmers across the country to supply crisp-makers such as Walkers and Golden Wonder with potatoes, said his crops had also been affected by the wet weather. “The weather we are getting now we needed in May or June,” he said. Some of his wheat crops have also been flattened by rains, while the dry June stunted grain, meaning harvests in Cambridgeshire are down by as much as a quarter. James Peck at PX Farms, who has 12,500 acres in Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire on which he grows a mix of crops including oilseed rape, oats and wheat, said his oilseed rape harvest was likely to be as much as one-fifth lower than hoped, after hail damage and delays. Yields for oilseed rape, one of the earlier crops to be brought in, are averaging 3 tonnes a hectare, according to the government-backed Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board, after a shorter flowering period than usual due to dry and warm weather in the spring, storm damage and pest damage. The delays and wet weather are affecting the quality of crops, with over-ripe or storm-battered oilseed rape pods shattering and losing their seed, barley heads breaking off and potatoes rotting or attracting blight. Many British crops are being harvested at least a fortnight later than usual, either because they were planted late due to the cold start to the spring, or because farmers are battling inclement weather and waterlogged fields. Photograph: Maureen McLean/Rex/Shutterstock Potato yields are below expectation after fields became waterlogged and processing was slowed down. ![]() The Bank of England this week warned that UK households would be struggling with double-digit food inflation into next year as processers remain saddled with expensive energy contracts.įeargal Shortall, the Bank’s director for monetary analysis, said food inflation, currently at 17%, was unlikely to fall below 10% by the end of the year, based on feedback from farmers, distributors and food manufacturers who said their own costs were continuing to rise at a fast pace. That could pose more headaches for central banks in their battle against inflation. ![]() In China’s Heilongjiang region, known as its “great northern granary”, floods have submerged farms and devastated crops. The increase came after India banned exports of non-basmati white rice on 20 July, in an attempt to curb domestic food inflation after heavy rains hit crops in the world’s largest exporting nation. The rice price index hit its highest level in almost 12 years in July, after rising 2.8% last month alone, according to the UN. Russia’s subsequent attacks on Ukrainian port infrastructure on the Black Sea and River Danube pushed international wheat prices up by 1.6% last month, according to the UN food price index. The cost of wheat made its first monthly climb in nine months in July, according to the UN Food and Agricultural Organization, because of uncertainty about Ukrainian grain exports since Russia’s decision last month to terminate the Black Sea grain deal, which had guaranteed safe shipment from Ukraine’s seaports.
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