THIS summer's hot weather has left a farmer with cold feet about the harvest of his crops.

During the driest summer in modern records, which date back to 1961, Joel Davies, of Cefn Bach farm in the Nant, near Holywell, has been left with parts of parched land and a dried-out crop of corn and barley.

Mr Davies, who has worked on the family farm for decades with his father, this year spent time and effort tending "a few acres of land" on his own after his father passed away in January this year.

But with just 47mm of rain from June to July this year, Mr Davies soon noticed his crops and grass were suffering due to the heat and dryness in the middle of June.

He said: "At the end of June, they were saying there was going to be rainfall and you look forward to it. The ground was dry so I cropped it to the sides, and usually it spurts out and you can see it growing.

"Usually it's fresh when it's cut but with the weather it had not greened over it's not reacting as usual.

Mr Davies said that the "extreme" weather jeopardises the crop not just for his own land, but for other farmers too.

He said: "If there's no rain for half the cycle, it's all thrown off. My spring barley is going in now, and the winter barley is just starting to grown.

"The plant is shorter than it normally is - the seed head normally pumps up. Yes, you may get a crop off it but it's not good quality.

"When it goes through the roller mill so dry, it just shatters."

Mr Davies said it's not so bad for himself on a small farm, as he also works part-time elsewhere, but when speaking to other farmers and looking at their land he can see the issue getting worse and how it's affecting their livelihood, especially dairy farmers.

He said: "There's nothing for their stock to graze on. Everything is going short. I looked over at livestock farmers and I can see them putting out bails to feed."