THERE CAN be no doubt farming in the West Midlands of England has faced an unprecedented crisis in recent days, writes Ewan Pate, farming editor. The flooding has been well documented in terms of the dreadful effect on towns and villages but the countryside has also taken tremendous punishment.

Speaking to The Courier yesterday from his farm at Upton-on-Severn, arable farmer Mike Evans said, “It is as close to a disaster as it could be. I have completely lost 1200 acres of high-value crops with a lot of the fields under six to seven metres of water.”

His crops include potatoes, sweetcorn, salad onions, snap peas and carrots as well as wheat.

“It is alluvial land next to the river but we have good floodbanks. They have never before burst in summertime.

“In winter we might flood one year out of five but this is completely different. It is now half a metre above the winter floods of 1947 and above anything else going away back into the early 1800s.

“It will take at least three weeks for the waters to recede and then goodness knows what damage we will find.

“Today it is sunny and the water level is starting to go down slightly. My fear is that the effects of this flood have been completely under- estimated and that insurance companies will be unable to meet the cost.

“There are farmhouses and cottages flooded all around.”

Mr Evan’s own crops are not insured for flood damage, but he said, “We just have to be philosophical and get on with it. Everyone here is affected.

“At Tewkesbury, dairy farmers are having to pour milk out because there is no way it can be collected. The cattle are inside eating fodder and there is going to be no chance to make more hay or silage.

Further down the Severn, just north of Gloucester, Humphrey Chamberlyn has 150 acres of crops under water but his chief concern over the weekend was his 800-strong indoor pig herd.

“It was a traumatic couple of days. We had to evacuate the pig unit completely before it became submerged.

“We couldn’t have done it without everyone rallying around. Our staff and neighbours were wading around sometimes up to the armpits in water and whatever else might be floating around a pig unit.

“We managed to save all the pigs but two. Fortunately we closed down another older unit a couple of years ago and we have pressed that back into service temporarily,” he said.

Mr Chamberlyn has at least been able to secure some harvest with all his winter barley and half of his oilseed rape safely stored before the deluge, but he admitted straw would be in short supply in the area.

NFU West Midlands senior policy adviser Andrew Richards, based in Telford, Shropshire, said, “The whole position across the area is pretty serious. Potatoes are badly affected with a big acreage flooded.

“Even where it is not actually flooded lifting has had to stop and blight spraying is often impossible. Aerial spraying is the only option. Cereal harvest had barely started but is now completely stopped. Even if the sun shone continuously for five or six days the ground would not be passable.

“We are used to flooding to an extent but normally the rainfall is heaviest at the top end of the Severn and as the flood waters come downstream then we have problems. This time the rainfall was right on top of us and ditches and drains just could not begin to cope.

“Livestock farmers have also been badly hit. In North Staffordshire between 300 and 400 sheep have drowned. Cattle have been brought inside but fodder supplies are dwindling. Big baling of silage has been interrupted and now silage fields are just a mess.”

Edward Thompson is a soft fruit grower and processor based at Pixley Court near Ledbury in Herefordshire.

“It is very disappointing. We had six inches of more or less continuous rain but we have also had high winds which has done damage to fruit. I have spoken to one or two quite distressed growers. It depends on varieties and what stage they were at,” he said.

Mr Thompson’s processing factory has been out of action since Friday but should start again today.

“We had power but had to close on environmental grounds. Waste disposal is a real problem. Support services are at full stretch. It is pretty serious for most of us and potatoes in particular are in a sorry state,” he said.

The situation in the UK and northern France is making markets nervous.

Wheat futures for November reached £130.75 per tonne by late yesterday afternoon, a rise of £8.25 since Friday. Potato markets have not reacted quite so violently as buyers try to assess quality and quantity.

The British Potato Council average price on Monday was £150 per tonne, some £10 above last year at the same date and futures for April 2008 stood at £121 per tonne.