THE long-awaited improvement in weather which is promised for the coming week will give farmers across the Province hope of salvaging what was looking like a disastrous harvest. Every sector has been hit by the prolonged wet conditions which have persisted from early July, throwing seasonal work into chaos. Grassland farmers who have had to house their stock in recent weeks may now be able to turn them out to pasture, but a significant hole has been left in fodder supplies for the coming winter. Many will be striving to take a late cut of silage in the next few days. The grassland farmers will also be pushing to get slurry tanks emptied before the winter deadline for spreading comes into operation in mid-October. But it is in the arable and potato sectors where the effects of the last two months of persistent rainfall have been felt most. Lewis Cunningham of Wilsons Potatoes told FarmWeek that growers are some four weeks behind in harvesting. "The early crops at the beginning of July were fine, but since mid-July we have only been able to dig what kept the packhouse supplied. By now we should be well on the way to filling stores but as yet nothing has gone into storage." He added, "Some crops have lain in flooded drills and will require some time to dry out before harvesting machinery moves in so although the current dry spell in welcome, it will take several weeks of good weather to enable growers to make up lost ground. "There is also a risk in too much drying, too quickly, as this can cause the soil in the drills to crack, exposing potatoes to light, resulting in significant losses due to greening."

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September 3rd 2009
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