Assistance is being sought for farmers in Wales after “one of the wettest springs in living memory”.

NFU Cymru has raised a series of key asks to Welsh Government to assist farmers “hamstrung by the ongoing poor weather and ground conditions”.

Many areas of Wales have received around 200 per cent of the rainfall they would expect against long-term weather averages.

Records also show that Wales has experienced the second wettest eight-month period in 100 years, causing significant disruption to farming businesses – crops can’t be sown, cattle can’t be let out to grass and lambing has been extremely challenging.

The union has asked the Welsh Government to “show flexibility in the delivery of various scheme requirements” including cross the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) and the Growing for the Environment Scheme.”

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NFU Cymru are also asking them to bring forward the £20 million committed to support farmer compliance with the Control of Agricultural Pollution Regulations “without delay”.

The union is also calling for Natural Resources Wales (NRW) to work with farmers and “adopt a sensible approach to regulation that demonstrates flexibility and understanding of the on-the-ground conditions.”

NFU Cymru President Aled Jones said: “Farmers in all sectors are finding the incessant wet weather extremely challenging. Livestock businesses are seeing increased expenditure on forage due to having to keep stock housed far longer than they normally would and the conditions are less than ideal for those businesses who have been lambing and calving.

“The financial pressures and significant challenges posed by this prolonged rainfall are compounded by a range of ongoing issues affecting the industry, including uncertainty over future agricultural policy proposals, agricultural pollution regulations (NVZs) and animal health issues, such as bovine TB and the Schmallenberg virus.

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“This is an awful lot for farmers to contend with and we are very concerned about the mental toll this is taking on our farmers.

“We ask Welsh Government, working with its regulator NRW, to do all it can to assist Welsh farmers at an extremely difficult time. This is a time when sensibility and flexibility should take precedence to ensure that our farming businesses are resilient and can produce food to feed the nation.”

NFU Cymru is also encouraging farmers in need of support to make use of the services offered by the Welsh farming charities.