Mud, Misery, and the Mighty Wellie: how UK farmers are coping with the very wet weather

 


Mud, Misery, and the Mighty Wellie: how UK farmers are coping with the very wet weather

If your garden currently resembles a duck sanctuary, spare a thought for the people trying to earn a living on soil that’s behaving like a sponge in a bath.

The Met Office has been pretty clear: this winter has felt exceptionally wet in many parts of the UK, with repeated spells of rain and very few proper dry breaks. Some weather stations have logged runs of around 40 consecutive wet days since late December.

What “very wet” actually does to a farm (beyond ruining everyone’s trousers)

1) You can’t work land you can’t get on.
Waterlogged fields mean tractors sink, ruts form, and soil gets compacted (which makes drainage and yields worse later). That delays ploughing, drilling, planting, fertiliser applications, and spraying—basically, the whole “growing food” bit. Scottish crop advisers have noted that field work has been “frustratingly delayed” by waterlogged soils this month.

2) Crops don’t love wet feet.
Prolonged waterlogging reduces oxygen in the root zone, stressing plants and increasing disease pressure (and the timing of treatments can be harder when you can’t travel).

3) Livestock farming gets an expensive, soggy twist.
When fields are saturated, grazing gets trashed quickly (“poaching”), so animals are often kept indoors longer. That means more bought-in feed, more bedding, more labour… and less margin. A recent report on British beef farming described this as a “double hit”: poor forage from earlier extremes, then persistent rain forcing longer housing.

4) Flooding isn’t a one-day drama—especially groundwater flooding.
In some areas, disruption can linger long after rainfall eases because groundwater levels drop slowly, keeping land saturated and access limited.

So… how are farmers coping?

They’re doing what they always do: adapting, improvising, and spending far too much time staring at weather apps.

On arable farms (cereals, oilseeds, veg):

  • Switching plans: pushing some cropping and cultivations later, swapping to spring drilling where possible, and prioritising the fields that can carry machinery first.

  • Protecting soil structure: avoiding fieldwork “just because you can” (that one pass can cause damage you’ll still be swearing about at harvest). AHDB guidance consistently emphasises soil structure and recovery after waterlogging.

  • Drainage triage: clearing grips, ditches and outfalls, fixing blown drains, and managing traffic to stop compaction getting worse.

On livestock farms (dairy, beef, sheep):

  • Longer housing + feed management: stretching silage, rebalancing rations, and planning for higher bedding use.

  • Sacrifice paddocks and trackways: accepting one area will get churned to protect the rest.

  • Health vigilance: wet conditions can increase foot problems and parasites—so monitoring and prevention become even more important.

On horticulture (salads, soft fruit, etc.):

  • Protected cropping and drainage-first thinking: polytunnels help, but heavy rain still affects access, harvesting windows, and disease pressure. (A lot of the battle is simply timing.)

The bit we don’t joke about: stress and mental load

Unpredictable extremes (flooding and drought swings) are a real driver of anxiety and low mood in farming. RABI has repeatedly highlighted the mental-health impact of extreme weather and runs a free support helpline (0800 188 4444).

What helps (and what we can do about it)

Policy/infrastructure matters
There is government support in some circumstances (for example, Defra’s Farming Recovery payments after severe wet-weather events), but eligibility and timing can be complicated.
Longer-term, both “hard” drainage work and natural flood management (soil health, hedgerows, upstream storage, buffer strips) can reduce peak runoff—but it needs coordination and investment, not just farmers being told to “be resilient”.

What readers can do (without buying a tractor):

  • Waste less food (the cheapest “new supply” is the food we don’t bin).

  • Be flexible about wonky veg and shifting seasonal availability.

  • Support local (farm shops, veg boxes, farmers’ markets) where you can.

  • Back fair dealing: if weather is pushing costs up, someone has to carry that risk—ideally not only the person standing knee-deep in mud.

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