Farmer Kaleb Cooper has said that continual rainstorms have delayed harvest operations at Diddly Squat Farm.

Mr Cooper, 24, told Farmers Weekly that as soon as it is dry at the Chipping Norton farm they are going straight out.

"The weather is making it hard this year but, as and when, we are cracking on," he said.

In 2020 farm manager and contractor Mr Cooper, 24, stepped in to help Jeremy Clarkson attempt to run the huge 1,000-acre Diddly Squat Farm which the broadcaster bought in 2008 and was previously run by a villager who had retired. 

READ MORE: Clarkson's Farm's Kaleb Cooper reveals big career change

The farm, which was formerly part of the Sarsden estate, covers 400 hectares and is primarily used for growing arable crops such as barley, rapeseed, and wheat as well as having some livestock.

It is a common story across Oxfordshire as farmers wanting to bring in their harvests are facing delays or a stop-start season as wet weather sweeps across the UK.

Karl Franklin, a West Oxfordshire farmer told the BBC this year's harvest was taking "twice as long".

"The lack of sunshine has meant that cutting and turning the crop is taking almost a week to do - which normally takes three days," the farmer said.

"Usually the crop is cut by end of June. I'll be lucky if it's completed mid-August."

The National Farmers’ Union (NFU) has warned that its members could face “financial difficulty” if farmers are unable to bring in crops due to continued downpours.

Ian Wilkinson, founder and director of the centre for Farming and Food Education FarmED in Shipton-under-Wychwood, said: "It's been difficult, yes, but better than scorching 40C like last year I'd say. 

"All farmers are in the same boat with hardly a single combine harvester running in Oxfordshire."

He said, as a result, this year's harvest was costing a lot more - especially at a time when the cost of electricity was rising.

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"Where wheat has been harvested it needs drying to reduce moisture for storage and this is expensive economically and environmentally," he said.

But he added: "Crops will be harvested if the weather picks up next week as forecast and I know farmers will burn the candle at both ends to bring it in."

Last month was the UK’s sixth wettest July on record, with an average of 140.1mm of rain across the month.

Forecasters believe a change in the weather will not come until the second half of August.