After heatwave nearly wiped out the crops last year, now the biggest problem for farmers are the decision makers who ban chemicals, apparently without practical knowledge.

Jonathan Miall runs a large Lower Farm near Deddington. Asked how the weather is affecting farming this year, he anwered that he was worried by lack of rain only until May: “The rain came just in time to save the fields. So far the cereals are looking pretty well, I might say”.

He underlined, that larger harvest does not mean that farmers will have greater revenues: “Last year prices went sky high, and this year I expect them to go down. We’ll end up pretty much in the same place.”

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But there are exceptions. This year is a nightmare for those who planted rapeseed. Quarter of their plants already died and another half is being eaten from the inside by cabbage stem flea beetles.

It’s not caused by the weather.

Mr Miall explained: “It’s the result of the EU’s decision to ban all neonicotinoids. They argued, that these chemicals decimate population of bees, so they’ve banned it completely.”

"The difference is, that on the continent neonicotionoids were sprayed on all the fields and orchards, so banning it there made sense.

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"In case of rapeseed the chemical in question was used only as a seed dressing, protecting the seedlings for the first six weeks of growth.

"It was not affecting the bee population at all. It was a perfectly targeted chemical, and now we don’t have any way of protecting rapeseed against the flea beetle."

The EU is not the only source of decisions harmful to farmers.

Oxford Mail:

Mr Miall continued: “[The Secretary for Agriculture] Mr [Michael] Gove in his infinite wisdom decided to ban metaldehyde, a chemical used to fight slugs. It is very hard to get rid of this chemical from drinking water, so water companies don’t like it.

"But it is very effective, and there is no need of using it as a preventive measure. Once you spotted slugs, you applied it only they were present. Once metaldehyde is banned, we need to plaster everything with ferric phosphate, which is only effective if applied earlier. In effect there will be more chemicals used in agriculture, not less.”

"So last year it was draught, and this year’s plague are politicians who decide to run things for us from behind their desks. It’s madness, absolute madness!”

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But weather this year cannot be called not disturbing at all.

According to Grahame Madge, the spokesman for MET Office, June this year was the fourth wettest since 1910, when regular measurements began.

He explained: "50.4 mm is the average amount of rain expected in June in Oxfordshire, the figure is based on a 30-year average.

"For this year we still have only provisional figures, but from what we know, in June this year Oxfordshire had 112.6 mm of rain, which is 223 per cent of average.

"The wettest June in Oxfordshire’s recorded history was 2012 with 139 mm, followed by 122 in 1985 and 121 in 1972.”

Oxford Mail:

Mark Stay, who who grows vegetables at North Aston Organics small farm half way between Oxford and Banbury, is not worried by the weather.

He said: “There is nothing weird about it. Of course, it wouldn’t hurt if it rained, but we had some rain in June and now we support the plants with artificial watering."

From his perspective the problem is not water, but cold nights in May and early June, which affected all his Mediterranean plants. Especially aubergines are couple of weeks behind their normal growth, and the farmer attributes it to weakening of the Gulf Stream, which warms England's climate.

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He wrote to his customers in North Aston Organics' monthly newsletter: “Maybe we should go back to a diet of cabbages and turnips. If the Gulf Stream does turn off or divert we really will be in the manure heap. Did you realise we’re on a similar latitude to Calgary, Canada where they had the winter Olympics!?”