“In some cases you looked from the outside and thought: this crop will do over four tonnes to the acre − but it's been struggling to do three and some cases two tonnes to the acre.”
Pig and poultry market
Lower wheat yields are expected to boost the price of chicken, eggs and beef products. Kendall told BBC Radio4’s Today programme: “The challenge for the pig and poultry market is trying to make sure that retailers pay a fair price, because in pigs 50% of the cost is grain, while poultry it's 60%. Because the prices haven't responded yet, there are farmers saying: I'm not going to fill my sheds with poultry or pigs anymore.”
The wet UK weather also significantly reduced the size and quality of vegetable crops.
The British Retail Consortium confirmed that while retailers would do all they can to protect customers, shoppers would notice some higher prices.
Meanwhile, wet autumn weather is delaying the drilling of autumn-sown cereal crops, which threatens to affect the yield and quality of next year’s harvest.
A hot summer in Russia plus adverse US weather coupled with its vast area devoted to energy crops are also forcing up agricultural commodity prices.
