Comber farmer on course to lose 'a couple of hundred thousand' in sales due to wet weather

A Co Down farmer says he is set to lose 'a couple of hundred thousand' pounds in sales as waterlogged fields means he is unable to harvest his crop.

Paul Hamilton is an eighth generation grower, following in his family's footsteps. However he told UTV that persistent wet weather over the past number of months is severely affecting his business.

Mr Hamilton's warning comes as one Co Armagh supplier has revealed that is is being forced to incur more costs by bringing in potatoes from countries such as Cyprus to meet demand.

He said: "Speaking to my father and from my own experience, we've had plenty of wet summers, plenty of wet winters, we've had plenty of wet springs.

"But we never in living memory have we had a wet summer, a wet winter, a wet autumn followed by a wet spring, so this is a complete anomaly."

Parts of the UK saw the wettest March in more than 40 years.

The Hamilton fields are currently waterlogged meaning that tractors and harvesters can't even make it out onto them.

"It's costing around £3,000 an acre to grow so over 30 acres is a loss of £90,000 in terms of inputs.

"In regards of actual sales we are talking a couple of hundred thousand here."

Wilson's Country in Craigavon, Co Armagh, supply various retail outlets. Stuart Meredith from the company said they usually like to see around 50% of crops planted by the middle of April but currently, there is 'very little' planted.

"We're having now to look outside the island of Ireland to gather up more crop and get a surplus on site.

"So we're looking to countries such as Cyprus," he added.

Mr Meredith also said that the company is stretching older stocks by trying to fit more potatoes into bags.

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