Rainy summer destructive for the farmers in the West

Rainy summer Western Norway FarmersRain heavy summer ruins the farmers.Photo: Terje Bendiksby / Scanpix

Rainy summer in Western Norway destructive for the farmers

Large amounts of precipitation in Rogaland this summer have hit agriculture in the county hard. Many farmers have not been able to make hay at all.

 

– Extremely many farmers are affected by this weather. They are frustrated and call us, says Senior Consultant at the Norwegian Agricultural Advisory Board in Klepp, Ragnvald Gramstad, to NRK.

Because the ground is so wet, the farmers can not mowe the grass to be rolled to hay balls or put in a silo. Usually this is done twice during the summer, but in many places in Rogaland, the farmers have not mowed the first round of grass, the so-called first haymaking.

There are areas of land that are so badly affected that they just have to plow it down and sow new grass. And that is expensive, says Gramstad.

Almost twice as much as normal

In Egersund there has been 90 per cent more precipitation than normal for July, Stavanger has seen 31 per cent more, Haugesund 50 per cent more and Utsira has had 88 per cent more, the National Broadcaster reports.

Even in Hordaland, all the rainfall this summer has caused big problems for many farmers.

 

© NTB Scanpix / Norway Today