Knee-deep in a quagmire which could easily pass for a paddy field, Glen Sanderson is close to tears as he examines a blackened, useless crop, flattened by endless rain, which should have been harvested weeks ago.
Next week, at great cost to a struggling family farm, contractors will move in to destroy 25 acres of oil seed rape, driving a near-£12,000 hole into the accounts - and wiping out this year's profit - in the forlorn hope of preparing the land for re-seeding.
Nearby 170 acres of wheat, the most valuable crop, is still awaiting the harvester and looking distinctly unhealthy. It, too, could soon become worthless and will have to be destroyed. At this time of year much of the harvest should be gathered in, fed and moderately watered by the Almighty's hand, as Mr Sanderson prepares to plough the fields and scatter more good seeds on the land.
Instead, like scores of farmers on the east coast, his 400-acre enterprise on the Northumberland plain could be facing ruin unless the weather relents. "In 33 years of farming I've never known anything like this," laments Mr Sanderson as he examines his diary on the farmhouse table.
"Four half days of harvesting in the last three weeks. We are looking at a very serious situation. It is very hard for my family at the moment. The weather seems stuck in this pattern, the land is completely waterlogged, and there's no light at the end of the tunnel."
His wife, Nicola, looks on anxiously. "It's very worrying, yes. If we cannot get the wheat in things will be serious." With his nearby grain store empty, and expensive combine harvester and drying equipment idle, Mr Sanderson has to decide on Monday whether to accept or cancel a seed consignment due for planting soon to provide next year's crop - in the knowledge that the land is unfit.
"Do I plant or not?" he sighs. "If I don't I'll be bust. I couldn't sustain another year like this without a crop to sell and I am quite sure my farming colleagues could not either. This is a very wobbly business now - a large part of it has been wiped out. I've never known it so out of control."
Around much of Scotland and the north, and parts of the south, it is a similar story of farmers extending their overdrafts with empty grain stores, combines stuck in waterlogged fields and, in many cases, a low-grade crop to sell for those who've managed to complete the harvest.
After bumper prices last year on the back of a sun-drenched August, much of the wheat crop is fetching around £58 a tonne, compared with a high of £110 in 2003, when cereal production in mainland Europe was ruined by a long drought.
With Britain still the third largest wheat producer in Europe, and the country largely self-sufficient in the cereal, Paul Ibbott, the National Farmers' Union's chief arable adviser, says the arable industry is now resting on a knife-edge.
"If you're farming in Northumberland, Durham and Yorkshire, it is really critical," he says. "For hundreds of farmers the oil seed rape crop is useless and there are now serious concerns about wheat."
Mr Ibbott estimates that barely a third of the main wheat crop has been harvested at a time of year when farmers should be planning the next stage in the cycle. "This time last year it was all in and, to make matters worse, we have some very poor forecasts for the rest of the month," he said.
"It's going to take a long time for fields to dry out and, even if they do, the ground will be so wet that combines will get bogged down. It will be very serious if we get to September without much harvesting; farmers will be facing severe financial problems and there is a serious risk of some going to the wall."
Already some farmers are considering the unthinkable - ploughing up their wheat crop, and losing tens of thousands, rather than accept a low price. Peter Kendall, who farms 3,300 acres in Bedfordshire with his brother, says storms in July flattened crops, making harvesting difficult. "People are having to combine parts of fields and leave the rest to dry out," he warned. "This puts an extra strain on businesses. We're not halfway through yet and we need the weather to improve quickly."
Others are relatively lucky. On his 2,000 Cambridgeshire acres Oliver Walston has managed to harvest most of his wheat - but, unlike last year, it needed drying in expensive machinery after the heavy rains. With a high moisture content, he says, this year's crop is extremely low grade, unsuitable for milling and, crucially, for export. It will probably end up as animal feed. Prices had dropped considerably.
"The quality is terrible," he said. "I know farmers like to whinge but this year they have a reason for doing so. The problem is that they've been whingeing for 30 years and when things really get bad - and they are for some - no one believes them."
