Mixed summer weather leads to some 'bumper crops'
Farmers across the Channel Islands have been reflecting on a summer of mixed weather, with some experiencing a "bumper crop".
In June, July and August there was more sunshine in Jersey and more rain in Guernsey than the 30-year averages, according to Jersey Met.
Julian Ogier, who runs Le Hechet Farm in Guernsey, said although "farmers are never happy with the weather", he had produced a "bumper crop" of maize this year.
He said: "The maize got established pretty well as there was plenty of moisture in the soil and plenty of moisture when it was growing."
The additional rainfall may have helped the crops grow in the summer but Mr Ogier said the issue that many farmers now faced was being able to harvest their crops in the autumn.
He said: "The harvester itself and the trailers are quite heavy and if you are coming out of a field nine or 10 times, you're going to carry out a lot of mud onto the road so we'd rather wait until the weather improves.
"Farmers are never happy with the weather and we would have liked a lot more sun in the last six weeks which would have brought the harvest on and maybe it would all be done and dusted three weeks ago."
The Jersey Met Office has released figures for June to August compared to the 30-year average - Guernsey had 26.4mm more rainfall and 15.4 more hours of sunshine while in Jersey the total was 26.2mm lower and the island had 47.3 more hours of sunshine.
"Every year is not going to be a phenomenal year" and "patience" was needed, according to Andrew Smith - the Vineyard Manager at La Mare Wine Estate in Jersey.
Although there was more sunshine overall it came at the wrong time of the year for the grapes.
"In the last four to six weeks the grapes turn from white to red, that's their final ripening stage and is the second most critical one to determine the final outcome," he said.
"Things that help that come along are temperature, wind and direct sunlight and we just didn't get that in September."
Jock Pettitt, co-founder of The Soil Farm in Guernsey, said just because they grow crops under glass, they were not "immune to the weather".
He said: "There's been a lot of cloud cover this year with the rain which reduces the light in here and affects the growing."
Mr Pettitt said the glasshouses gave them a "season extension" because it remained warm under cover when it was cool outside.
But the team at the farm must carefully monitor the outside weather conditions to ensure their crops and structures thrive and survive.
"If you experience very humid conditions you need to open the vents to let the space breathe but if you get high winds you need to close the vents again," Mr Pettitt added.
"The advantage with the rain and sun that we've had is that the grass has really kept growing through," said Peter Girard, who runs the Golden Guernsey Goat Farm.
But he said the challenge had been getting his animals out in the fields to graze on it.
Mr Girard said his goats have "had fewer days out grazing this summer" because they "run for shelter" when there were just a few drops of rain, but the increased rainfall in the island has helped the farm make winter feed stock.
"From a milk production point of view, it hasn't affected them greatly because we've had good quality hay so the milk production has kept about the same," he added.
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