A Yorkshire farmer whose land has seen more floods in the last four years than the last century
Richard Bramley, a farmer of 30 years based in North Yorkshire, tells us the story of his farm, the impacts of severe weather and how things have changed since his Grandfather ran the farm in 1935
Richard Bramley is a farmer based just south of York in North Yorkshire. He’s been farming for over 30 years: he’s a third generation farmer on his land, taking over from his Dad and Grandfather before him. The increase in severe weather he is seeing is seriously impacting his farm, to the degree that he’s losing tens of thousands of pounds worth of potatoes at a time. Things have changed since his Grandfather ran the farm in the 1930s - Richard’s farm has flooded more times in the past four years than the previous century.
We farm beside the River Ouse. Flooding is not something that we don’t expect to happen but what we’ve seen is a really dramatic increase in the amount of flooding that we’re getting. We know that our land that floods flooded about five times last century and it’s flooded six times in the last four years...
The farm, pictured in the 1950s, with no flood defence around the house and buildings
My grandfather came to the farm in 1935.
We’ve gone from three generations ago, one flood. Then four floods for the last generation. My generation, currently we’re looking at fourteen plus.
Where will this be for the following generation is anyone’s guess.
Richard’s family throughout the years. His Grandad - pictured centre - came to the farm in 1935
We might have had extremes of weather in the past. We might have had a period of dry and a period of wet. But we’re seeing that more frequently as well and they’re often more extreme.
Richard’s father, grandfather and uncle in the local paper
There’s obviously a financial impact - it’s something that we are having to deal with...I think probably the thing that’s become the most telling for me in recent years has been the mental impact...it is getting increasingly hard. You deal with it but it’s getting increasingly hard, particularly when it’s happening...it’s very stressful. You can see a lot of work lost, you can see a lot of potential lost...
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Stories From Round Our Way. Everyday conversations with people impacted by climate change.