Flooded farmer fears for crops

Richard Bower said farmers alongside the River Penk faced "challenging" conditions

A farmer from Staffordshire has said he fears for the harvest after a wet autumn and winter left much of his land out of action.

Richard Bower farms alongside the River Penk, near Penkridge.

He said he expected some of the land to flood three or four times a year, but it had happened about five times in the last month alone.

"We start planting next year's crops from September, and there's 20% of the farm we haven't managed to plant this autumn as it has been so wet," Mr Bower explained.

The condition of those crops in the ground looked poor, he added

Ideally, farmers in the area needed a relatively dry January to help the land to drain, but as things stood, it was not looking like a good year, he said.

Mr Bower said his farm had experienced flooding five times in the past month