Weather-beaten UK farmers lament a dismal year for food production

[xchrom]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/oct/12/weather-uk-farmers-food-production?intcmp=122


Pig farming has become increasingly expensive for UK farmers due to rising global grain prices. Photograph: Ben Birchall/PA

"It's been the worst year in living memory," says Jonathan Lukies, who farms 288 hectares (720 acres) of arable and fruit orchards near Stansted, Essex. "It was horrific."

This year's weather has been a rollercoaster for British farmers that most now just want to forget. With a record drought afflicting most of England in the early spring – one so severe it prompted a series of emergency meetings with government – farmers desperately needed above-average rainfall to replenish the soil for planting. Their prayers for rain were answered – but in the worst possible way, with the wettest early summer ever recorded, followed by a near-sunless summer and torrential downpours in many areas late in the growing season.

This combination of extreme weather was disastrous for staple crops such as wheat and vegetables, first putting off growth and then washing out crops and preventing them from ripening.

[dipsydoodle]

1. We had sun and rain at the wrong times.

[xchrom]

2. you all apparently misplaced the gulf stream for a while as well.

i don't know why you would want to do such a thing.

[dipsydoodle]

3. lol

The difference in sea temperature off the west and east coasts of Scotland is quite amazing. Some years ago I ran into the North Sea on very hot day and ran out backwards about twice as fast.

[xchrom]

4. a sight to see i'm sure!

but i know the feeling -- i spent most of my life in the san fran bay area -- talk about a cold ocean!

[AverageJoe90]

5. Just another example of how climate change actually "weirds" the weather. n/t