Farmers and food businesses are counting the cost of flooding in the wake of Storm Bert, which left large parts of the country submerged.
Some 82 flood warnings were still in place in England on Wednesday, alongside a further 160 flood alerts, according to the Environment Agency, while 11 warnings were active in Wales.
The poor weather was creating “a lot more work and stress” for farmers, said the National Sheep Association this week. Although forecasts had since improved, water would take time to clear affected farms.
According to the NSA, rising flood water has been impacting producers in two ways: immediately where flood waters rose quickly and then more gradually in areas such as Northamptonshire and Herefordshire, where it had taken a few days for the flooding to reach down the river.
“Farms are seeing grazing pastures flooding and are having to move animals straight away to higher ground if they have it, or indoors,” said CEO Phil Stocker.
“It is also affecting people using tack grazing where sheep are moved from their summer grazing areas away from their usual farms on to what is often lowland grazing pastures in other areas,” he added.
“This comes at a time where this traditional movement of sheep is already being affected by bluetongue. This, along with flooding, is affecting people’s decisions about where to graze their sheep.”
Farmers are concerned about moving stock into bluetongue restriction zones, which could mean they are unable to move them back again at the end of winter, he said.
Farming is not the only sector affected. Meat brand The Black Farmer’s distribution centre faced a week of disruption due to significant flooding at its Chippenham base.
Founder Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones told The Grocer the company had been forced to cancel all orders leaving the centre on Monday and would be playing catch-up for the rest of the week.
“This is our first taste of winter and it’s had such a dramatic impact,” said Emmanuel-Jones, who added the situation was a “bit concerning”.
“It goes to show how little things like that could have a massive impact because you’re always having to contend with shelf life, and all the wastage that will then come with a hiccup like that,” he added.
It comes as the brand begins the fitting for its second London store in White City, following the successful opening of its Brixton branch earlier this year.
“Storm Bert has caused a tragic loss of life and misery to families and businesses across the country,” said public accounts committee chair, Sir Geoffrey Clinton-Brown MP. “Such devastating floods are becoming an annual feature of our national life.
“They are a symptom of our changing climate, and as such there is no excuse for the Government not to tighten its grip in tackling such a predictable risk.”
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