FARMERS are being urged not to take chances and gamble high-risk crops against a changing climate in Devon.

 The Environment Agency’s Flood Action Week, which ran from October 14 to 20, encouraged everyone to know what actions they can take to prepare for flooding.  

 In Devon, the Environment Agency is concerned about the impact heavy and prolonged rainfall is having on farmland, especially in areas with steep slopes.  

 Late harvesting of crops like maize ahead of winter can leave bare, compacted land.

Heavy rain in these conditions means runoff will erode soil, pollute watercourses and flood roads and neighbouring properties.

James Wimpress, of the Environment Agency, said: ‘Farming is tough right now. A very wet year is already delaying harvest time for some farmers and making conditions for harvest very difficult. This will compound the problems winter brings.

‘The longer that harvest is delayed, the smaller the window is to plant any form of cover crop to bind the soil and reduce runoff and cultivate the ground to reduce compaction.

‘Winters are only going to get tougher with more rain for longer periods. This means more soil erosion, runoff, pollution and flooding, unless farming practices become more resilient.’

 When soil becomes too wet and soft for heavy machinery to travel on, farmland is churned up with little opportunity to correct any problems by cultivating the ground to remove wheel marks and compaction.

On well-draining soils, it is better to cultivate soils to remove compaction and leave the soil rough, rather than leaving a compacted stubble over winter. 

With the changing weather farmers are being asked to rethink when planning cropping next year: avoid growing high-risk crops on fields which tend to be naturally wet where compaction is inevitable and difficult to remove late in the year; avoid using fields with erodible, sandy soils on steep slopes where runoff could wash onto neighbouring roads and communities and avoid leaving compacted and bare soils over winter, cultivating and using cover crops after harvest where needed.

The same risks persist into the spring with wet weather and thunderstorms on bare soils before crops have had a chance to establish.