By FEMI AKINOLA
Harvest 2024 marks the lowest yielding season for nearly 40 years at Glen Sanderson’s farm in Northunmberland, a ceremonial county in North East England, as a result of excessive winter rain which left crops struggling to survive.
The wet winter weather seriously hit crop performance at the 160 hectares farm. It left pest and diseases levels to surge in crops, which had managed to survive the monsoon, said Glen Sanderson, one of the farmer leader at Northumberland.
According to him, he said they wouldn’t have believe they would get the yields they eventually have. ” We applied the standard herbicides, fungicides and nitrogen levels as we normally would. Not to mention the cost of establishment as we get a contractor in for that – so we’ve lost a fortune,” he said.
Glen continue saying, ”When you have a harvest year like this, it is a disaster. We certainly couldn’t sustain another like this, otherwise one can’t just make a living.”
He said some farmers are really struggling financially and mentally. It’s important to know that one is not alone in this disaster. He admits that the loamy soil farm is not the most high-flying saying, ”it has been a serious blow at a time when farming is already in a difficult position. ”
Giving details of their cultivation activities, Glen explained that the fields were nurtured with the same level of care and compassion as any other year during planting season but they were disappointed when it is time for harvest.
” One field has to be ploughed up due to the disastrous conditions. The crops has never done as badly as this in the last 40 years. We were lucky if yields reached 2 tons per hectare. We work on a gross margin of 3.5 tons per hectare, so we’ve lost thousands of pounds. This was a yield I would be please with if it was 1971, not 2024,” Glen said.
Northumberland is reknowned for its fresh locl produce including the famous heritage potatoes, strawberries, hill lamb, famous craster kippers, beef, poultry, asparagus and host of other food items.