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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Environment
Sarah Butler

Harvest in England the second worst on record because of wet weather

Combine harvester gathering the crop and transferring it to a tractor’s trailer on arable farmland in Shropshire
The ECIU estimates that farmers could lose £600m on wheat, winter and spring barley, oats and oilseed rape, where production was down 15% in total. Photograph: David Bagnall/Alamy

England has suffered its second worst harvest on record – with fears growing for next year – after heavy rain last winter hit production of key crops including wheat and oats.

The cold, damp weather, stretching from last autumn through this spring and early summer, has hit the rapidly developing UK wine industry particularly hard, with producers saying harvests are down by between 75% and a third, depending on the region.

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