Flood-hit Tewkesbury farmer 'unable to plant crops'

Parts of the farm have been flooded for two weeks now

A farmer who lost his winter crop because of heavy rain says he faces another season of being unable to plant any crops due to recent flooding.

Ben Perry from Tewkesbury said because of the wet autumn the only crop he had been able to plant was oilseed rape.

The oilseed rape has been under water for the past two weeks.

Mr Perry said it was "catastrophic emotionally and financially," as he usually makes £15,000 in profits from his wheat, barley and oat winter crops.

He said the weather since September had been "too wet" for planting and he was aware winter crops planted by other farmers "had not established".

James Perry says after a wet autumn, other fields remain too wet for seed planting

"It's not just profit wise, it's soil structure that's damaged," he said.

"The biology in our soil is damaged and it's going to take a lot of expense, patience and attention to detail to get us back in a position where everything is back to square one."

Oilseed rape was planted in September but has been under five feet (approx 1.5m) of water for the past two weeks, and is set to remain so for the next month.

According to government rules, Mr Perry is ineligible to apply for government rebates until the land has been flooded for a month.

Mr Perry said a spring crop probably was not possible either as the ground in other parts of his 250 acre-land was too wet for planting.

Winter flooding and the wet autumn has created a national problem for farmers around the country and some winter crops such as barley have not been planted.

The National Farmers Union (NFU) is calling on the government to rethink its approach to flooding, The Tenants' Farmers Association is also calling on landowners to reduce rents to help farmers cope with their losses.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said: "We understand the difficulties farmers are facing due to the prolonged wet period over the last five months.

"The government is investing £2.6bn to better protect 300,000 homes by 2021, and this is expected to include 700,000 acres of agricultural land helping avoid £1.5bn of economic damage.

"Defra is currently working with the Environment Agency to collect data which will be used to determine the impacts of storms Ciara and Dennis to agricultural land before any further decisions on the Farming Recovery Fund can be taken."

The ground has been too wet to plant any crops this year, Mr Perry says