The vice president of the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) has said that it is “no exaggeration to say a crisis is building” for farmers due to prolonged poor weather.
Rachel Hallos welcomed the opening of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs’ (Defra) Farming Recovery Fund today (Tuesday, April 9), stating that it will be a “lifeline” for farmers.
She said: “People should be in no doubt about the immense pressure UK farm businesses are under thanks to this unprecedented and constant rain.
“While farmers are bearing the brunt of it now, consumers may well see the effects through the year as produce simply doesn’t leave the farm gate.”
The Farming Recovery Fund will support farmers who suffered uninsurable damage to their land due to flooding this winter with grants of between £500 and £25,000.
The NFU said relentless heavy rain, including from storms like Henk, since October 2023 has left vast swathes of agricultural land saturated and in many cases still under water.
The rain, combined with unseasonal low spring temperatures, is also having a brutal effect on livestock farmers, with a bleak attrition rate for lambs born this spring already clear, the union said.
“Combined with input costs which have been soaring for two years, the awful impact of this extreme weather on farmers cannot be overestimated,” Hallos said.
“I have real worries for not just the financial situation of many NFU members, but also the impact this is having on them personally.
“The recovery fund is very welcome against this background. Defra ministers who have driven this forward will have the thanks of many of our members for whom it will be a lifeline.”
Recovery fund
The fund will initially be open in those local authority areas where the Flood Recovery Framework has already been activated to help farms which have experienced the highest levels of flooding.
These areas area:
- Gloucestershire;
- Leicestershire;
- Lincolnshire;
- Nottinghamshire;
- Somerset;
- Warwickshire;
- West Northamptonshire;
- Wiltshire;
- Worcestershire.
Hallos said she is also very pleased that ministers have taken the decision to keep eligibility for the fund open for others affected.
The further counties under review are Berkshire, Herefordshire, Oxfordshire, Surrey, Staffordshire, Yorkshire, Norfolk and Derbyshire.
“It’s very encouraging that ministers have been in listening mode on this and have acted on what is not only a terrible situation for farmers to be in, but also a growing issue for UK food security,” Hallos said.
“This is a good start, and I hope Defra will remain open and flexible in recognising the other areas where help is urgently needed given the impact of this endless rain goes far beyond the impact of Storm Henk.”
