FARMERS in Yorkshire, Durham and Northumberland have been hit by a double whammy of floods and relentless wet weather in the last few months.

Mr Alec Turnbull, NFU senior policy adviser for the North-East, detailed the current position in the arable sector.

He said: "The potato harvest appears to be the most severely affected by the prolonged wet weather. Nationally, 71pc of the crop has been harvested, but in the North-East region about 40pc to 50pc of the crop remains in the waterlogged ground, some under several feet of flood water.

"Potatoes can only survive in the ground for a limited time, and some have already started to rot.

"The sugar beet harvest continues to progress very slowly, with only the very large six-wheel propelled harvesters managing to travel in the wet conditions.

"Where beet is being harvested the difficulty lies in getting the beet off the field as tractors and trailers are sinking in the mud because of the weight of the harvested beet.

"York's sugar beet factory is finding it difficult to find sufficient supplies of beet to run at full capacity, which could extend the harvest season, adding to problems at the end of the season when losses through frost damage could be a major factor.

"Autumn drilling of cereal crops (wheat and barley) was severely behind schedule during October, owing to the wet weather, but the weather conditions of November have brought all operations to a standstill.

"The difficulty that farmers face is that crops which have been drilled are now rotting in the ground. This is placing farmers in a position where they will have paid for the autumn cultivation and drilling without any return or only a proportion of the expected return.

"The severe financial position of many farming businesses means that they are unable to buy additional seed to replace the failed crops and will be looking to enter a higher percentage of land into set-aside in 2001.

"The final set-aside rate will depend on weather conditions between now and March. Current estimates appear to be in the range of 30pc to 35pc, but if the weather does improve dramatically we are more realistically looking at a rate of between 15pc to 20pc set-aside.

"Arable farmers have been under severe financial pressure throughout the last 18 months with unsustainably low commodity prices and high fuel prices. The current weather patterns have placed them in a position where they are now considering their future in agriculture. Farmers are re-assessing their position, and attitudes are changing because, financially, the industry is on its knees."

l Mr Chris Rigley, United Agri Products regional technical adviser, advised farmers to weigh up the spring cropping options now.

After November, he suggested, spring barley, wheat and beans could provide better gross margins than winter varieties or set-aside.

A big concern with cereals and rape already in the ground was the shallow rooting. The high water tables would prevent roots from getting down to depth, which could lead to problems of poor anchorage and frost lift.

Crops would also be unable to extract nutrients from soil and could suffer from spring and summer drought