New figures released by Defra reveal shocking statistics on how extreme weather has hit farming's bottom line.

The latest Defra farm income figures show a 14 per cent decrease in the bottom line for UK agriculture, as the total income from farming decreased by £737million in 2012 to £4.7billion.

Last year was the second wettest on record and the more recent snow has caused much disruption resulting in farmers still battling to deal with the chaos caused by our weather.

Here, Colwall farmer John Bishop tells the Hereford Times, in his own words, about the consequences of the severe weather.

FOR virtually every sheep farmer the last few months have been extremely painful mentally, physically and financially.

We have all struggled with what I would say have been the worst lambing conditions on record.

The winds blew relentlessly from the east, inflicting terrible casualties within our flock and especially on the newborn lambs.

Morning after morning we searched the fields looking for dead or dying lambs, many of which were frozen to the ground with their mothers looking on helplessly.

The whole experience has been quite soul-destroying.

What made the situation worse was the fact that most of our lambs were born in the relative warmth and safety of the lambing sheds and were at least two weeks old when they died.

My own experiences at Cummins Farm are far too painful to discuss in detail but the casualties run into hundreds and would have been far worse if it hadn’t been for my band of willing helpers who kept me focused on the job in hand.

The events that have unfolded in the last few months have been a steep learning curve for every one of us. Most of us feared the onset of the Schmallenberg virus, but never in our wildest dreams did we envisage so many casualties due to the weather.

Not only are we, as farmers, directly affected by these extraordinary climatic conditions, but you, as our customers, should be more aware of just how precarious the production of food is and not just take a full larder for granted.

Furthermore, to add insult to injury we are told that our year-old lambs, known to us as hoggs, are thrown into a skip in the abattoir if a broad tooth has erupted in the gums and 100 per cent of its value will be deducted from the vendor’s account. And all this comes at a time when pork is found in halal chicken, horse drug bute is found in corned beef and horsemeat in virtually every type of processed meat.

Why is it that I can bury my nearest and dearest in the local churchyard yet I can’t bury one of my sheep in a field adjoining the cemetery?

And, come to think about it, one of my colleagues has recently failed his farm inspection because he had forgotten to worm one of his sheepdogs. Now how ridiculous is that?

But in the midst of our unfolding disaster I received a phone call from my 96 year-old uncle in Hailsham, who had been a prisoner of war in Stalag VIII-B in Silesia.

He said “You can’t tell me anything about snowy conditions.

Along with the inmates of the prison camp we marched over a thousand miles from Silesia to Munich. We slept on 15 feet of snow with temperatures of minus 30 degrees. We ate one piece of black bread a day or foraged in the fields for frozen vegetables. We all had dysentery and frostbite and no winter clothing and if you fell by the wayside you were shot. That’s how I lost 300 of my best mates”.

I think that puts everything into perspective, don’t you?