Shropshire in Business: Huge list of problems for farmers in county

From drought conditions a year ago, the rain set in. It only relented when it was superseded at a vital time of year by snow.

At the time, potatoes lay rotting in the ground, drenched by months of rain, inaccessible to machinery which was bogged down in the churning muck.

Things were no better for livestock farmers. As the new year came around, so did a wicked cold front which ditched inch after inch of snow on top of the muddy land.

Meanwhile, the Schmallenberg disease became the latest obstacle for farmers.

Lambs were born with their bones fused as the disease, spread by midge bites, set about Shropshire flocks.

The list goes on. Tuberculosis continued to cause devastation for dairy herds, and a bitter war of words broke out between those who support and oppose a cull of the badger population which helps spread the disease.

The weather didn't drive farmers indoors, of course. Those spare minutes not spent tending to a holding hammered by difficulty were spent by many protesting against the low price paid for a litre of milk.

Even then, farmers have been looking with furrowed brows at the escalating scandal of horsemeat finding its way into the food chain, as products are shovelled remorselessly from the shelves.

So it was with admirable restraint and understatement that the regional representative of the National Farmers Union, John Mercer, said: "Farming has had a difficult 12 months.

"As we are talking we have huge issues with snow, and the weather affecting livestock, including a lack of grass to turn stock out onto.

"It's going to be a challenge, and will continue to be so into the coming year. What we have to do is make sure we have the ability to cope with this extreme weather through investment in infrastructure, harvesting times and technology.

"We have had a lot of issues, but the overall outlook is positive. We know that the outlook is good. Food and drink exports have risen, and are the fourth largest export sector."

The agricultural sector accounts for 40,000 jobs in the West Midlands, and last year contributed £1.8bn to the region's economic output. "We have heard about this scenario of the perfect storm in terms of a growing population that is going to need feeding," Mr Mercer added.

"What Britain and Shropshire are ideally placed to do is to rise to these challenges in an environmentally sound way.

"We have more and more people showing an interest in the way their food is produced.

"Horsemeat highlighted some issues in the supply chain, but people have to realise that they are a foreign problem.

"It shows the UK and Britain's farmers are producing safe, quality, affordable food, and we need people to get behind that by buying British.

"The outlook is good and the opportunities are there, but individual enterprises have had a difficult few years."

Rob Alderson farms near Craven Arms, and has both sheep and cattle, as well as crops.

He said: "The fields look a bit more like a desert than the lush south Shropshire pasture land we can normally achieve.

"The weather we have had in the last 12 months makes you realise that opportunities can be there, but are very much under pressure due to the adverse effect of the continual rain last year and the cold spring.

"Any young person that has started in the last couple of years and has cut their budget with not a lot to spare will be finding things extremely difficult.

"It's one thing breaking even, but another when you start to use what you have made in good years to get through a year like the one we have had, and I believe many businesses will have to rely on some reserves of money in their business to run this year through."

The reduced income caused by the weather problems – and while Mr Alderson's was not among the worst hit by the snow, he has been among those to suffer from Schmallenberg disease causing deformities in lambs and infertility in cattle – is compounded by external financial pressures.

For areas of farmland that are not owner-managed, the extremely high land values has forced up rent prices, while seed prices are also on the rise.

However, Mr Mercer added: "The overall message is there are short term hardships but longer term opportunities.

"Food exports have doubled in the last decade, and remain a huge part of the economy, and manufacturing food is the largest sector of the economy.

"In Shropshire we are very good at farming. What we need is the opportunity to take those challenges that exist and really go for it.

"That means a level playing field across Europe, and we need consumers to get behind Britain, but British, and support Shropshire farmers."