JOHN Stephenson should have harvested 40 acres of potatoes by early October. Today - mid-way through November - he has only managed to lift eight acres of his annual crop.
Mr Stephenson, who has farmed at Bradley Burn, near Wolsingham, County Durham, for 38 years, described his still waterlogged fields as "not a very pretty picture".
He said: "This is the first time in my life that we have not been able to harvest our crop. Potatoes are our main income and this is the worst possible scenario. I am absolutely devastated."
Mr Stephenson said he hoped that he may be able to harvest the rest of the crop in early March. But if the potatoes remained water-logged and the frost got at them, the rest of the crop would not survive.
He sells his Bradley potatoes to outlets in the Crook and Weardale areas of County Durham.
But, because of the devastation caused by the floods, he could see his supplies running out very quickly, so there would be no local potatoes on the dinner table on Christmas Day
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