Peterborough farmer prays for end of weeks of heavy rain as wet weather damaging crops

A Peterborough farmer is praying for dryer conditions to arrive in Peterborough after the city was drenched with heavy rain throughout September.

Last month was one of the wettest ever recorded in Peterborough – and October has started in the same way, with more rain arriving.

While for many of us, the constant wet weather has been a nuisance – but for farmers in our region, the deluge is having a big impact on their livelihoods.

Farcet farmer Steve Briggs said the bad weather was like ‘Groundhog Day,’ after a number of rainy seasons occurring over the past year

He said: “After a wet harvest in summer 2023 and a record breaking 23/24 wet winter many farmers had failed crops, or had to delay drilling till spring 24 and ended up with around 15-20% less crop areas, resulting in lower yields .

"This is all having a knock on effect impacting on later sowings this autumn – and now we have heavy rains again.

“It’s like Groundhog Day with risks rising year on year.

"What farmers really need is a period of three weeks of settled weather with the odd shower but no more biblical rain or flooding just to be able to repair soils from 18 months of damage and get crops sown in the hope of a reasonable harvest and income for 2025.”

Trevor Pratt, from Peterborough WeatherWatch said September had broken his record for the wettest ever month in the city – with his records dating back to October 2005.

He said 157.7mm of rain fell in September – nearly four times the average for September of 43mm.

The morning of October 1 told a similar story, with 16mm falling in just 12 hours.

However, there is some good news on the horizon.

The Met Office have forecast that there will be lighter rain in the city on Wednesday – and then – potentially – a week with no, or very little, rain on the radar. The current forecast has a 50 per cent or less chance of rain from 10am on Wednesday until at least 10am on Tuesday, when their current forecast ends.