The English Wheat Harvest
Has the poor English weather affected the wheat harvest?
It’s easy to poke fun at the English weather, we have a reputation for rainfall and general lack of sun and it’s often hard to argue against the accusations. But for many a wet English summer can have disastrous consequences for not only their own business but for the customers who have to bear the brunt of the inevitable price rises. It’s a domino effect and more people suffer than you might first imagine.
If wheat isn’t expensive enough already then it’s only going to get worse. British farmers are facing the real possibility of the worst harvest in many years because of the unusually high level of rainfall in August. The simple fact is that farmers have been unable to harvest their crops quick enough. According to the latest reports less than a quater of the crops nationwide have been harvested compared to eighty per cent at the same time in 2007. This is quite staggering, you only have to take an evening drive around the fileds surrounding my village to see farmers working into the fading light to make up for lost time.
Many farmers are looking at the state of their crops and taking the decision to leave some of their land fallow next year because the rising cost of fuel and especially fertiliser which has more than doubled makes for a very risky business. The rain has had a devastating effect on wheat crops, many fields have been reduced to harvesting for animal feed only because they hold so much moisture. The problem here is two fold, first of all the machinery gets stuck in the waterlogged fields and cannot harvest the crops properly and secondly the quality of the wheat isn’t good enough to compete on the global market. Now the British farmers face competition from abroad as foreign farmers have increased their crops to accomodate the needs of the developing economies of China and India.
So whatever your thoughts might be on farmers and their situation, and there are those who say that they have had it good for many years the fact remains that if this season’s harvest isn’t finished within the next two weeks it will have a very real impact on all of us. If the quality of the wheat is poor then the farmers will face difficulty in exporting to other countries particularly in the EU where the quality of wheat in countries like France is traditionally higher. For we, the consumer the outcome seems inevitable, pay more for less.
Miles
something is wrong here, I’m sure there’s more to this overall story.
Firstly, what about global warming - it’s supposed to be getting hotter - why is it so cold and wet here ?
Secondly, we’ve had wet summers before, there have been typhoons abroad before and I don’t believe the entire population of China decided to eat a more Westernized diet simultaneously !
The only thing I’m sure of is that things will continue to rise in price.
Great post !
Rod
August 31, 2008 @ 7:42 am
Rod,
It’s your last line which is the reason behind the post. OUR prices are going up and WE should question it more. This is a tie in with the food mountain post I wrote. You say something is wrong here, yes, because the numbers don’t add up other than price hikes for the consumer.
It’s about time we were told the truth.
Miles
August 31, 2008 @ 8:09 am
Miles
absolutely !
I personally believe that after years of cutting prices the suppliers and MAINLY the supermarkets have seen an opportunity to ramp all prices up.
The consumer has accep[ted that prices are going up so why not use this opportunity to ramp all prices up.
I know there are some issues going on but we’ve had them all before and the sum of them does not equate to the overall price rises we have seen across the board
Keep highlighting these things Miles - especially as you see both sides.
Domestic and wholesale and business supply prices
Cheers
Rod
August 31, 2008 @ 9:22 am
Miles,
This article forced me to go back to our country’s Corn Laws just to remind myself what happened in the 1800s. With lots of landed gentry in Parliament wanting to keep prices high, the working class suffered which in turn led to claims for higher wages to counteract the price of bread.
It’s worth going back through a bit of school history to see what effect bad harvests of wheat had on the country as a whole.
How much do we rely on cereals every day in this country….. is half our diet based on wheat and oats? A case of too much wheat and not enough oats perhaps
Cid ~ focusing on global trade and the size and cost of the loaf currently being baked here!
August 31, 2008 @ 2:40 pm
Rod,
It is a con, it’s the same with petrol, once we get used to paying it then that’s how it’s going to stay. Prices may stabalize but they won’t go down.
Miles
August 31, 2008 @ 4:34 pm
Cid,
Looking back over previous decades is a valid point snd our diet and lifestyle is such that we rely too heavily on a few basic food staples such as wheat.
More oats, that’s what I say
Miles
August 31, 2008 @ 4:36 pm
Miles
I’d like an answer to this question:
In Sainsbury’s supermarket why is a 100% cotton white school polo shirt cheaper than a standard loaf of Hovis bread ?
Nobody will convince me that is right !
Cheers
Rod
August 31, 2008 @ 5:45 pm
Rod,
I’d like to hear the answer to that too. Wonder if that’s Fairtrade??
Miles
August 31, 2008 @ 6:00 pm
Miles
Fairtrade !!
That’ll be like the bunch of 10 bananas I buy - they’re so called fair trade and they are 99p - 25% less than a poxy loaf of bread produced in this country !
August 31, 2008 @ 6:25 pm