That was the view of the National Farmers Union Scotland this week after three weeks of almost continual rainfall have seen crops across the region battered. And with the sodden ground, farmers have found it difficult even getting into fields when the weather has cleared up a bit.

However, according to NFUS spokesman Bob Carruth, earlier in the summer the prospects for a good harvest were looking positive.

"It's a very mixed picture at the moment," Mr Carruth told TheSouthern this week. "In fact, the further south you go in Scotland, the more stop-start the harvest seems to have been.

"For the last two or three weeks, we have not had a single continuous dry spell to let farmers get into the fields. That has meant a lot of difficulty getting early crops like oilseed rape harvested, and for those going for premium crops such as barley for malting or wheat for bread or biscuits, where the quality is now going to be hard to achieve.

"The longer harvesting is delayed the more the quality suffers. In fact, it's been so wet in recent weeks that some of the crops are now starting to sprout – so the quality is just down."

There was some harvesting under way at the weekend. Mr Carruth continued: "Up until three weeks ago, the crop was looking fantastic with prospects for good yield and quality."

Asked if he had heard of any farmers so sickened by the weather conditions that they had now ploughed some of their crops under, Mr Carruth said he was unaware of anyone taking such drastic action in the Borders yet.

"I personally haven't heard of crops being ploughed under yet. But farmers who grow oilseed rape should be sowing it now, in August. But if they can't get into the fields to harvest the crops growing just now, and that is going to cause real problems.

"This year's harvest has not reached the unsalvageable stage yet, but there is a shadow hanging over things now.

"What we need is just one warm week and farmers in the Borders will feel a lot better."

Meanwhile, Scottish Health and Safety Executive (HSE) figures just released show that in the 10-year period between 1997/98 to 2006/07, there were 399 fatal accidents involving farm workers and 134 of these fatal incidents occurred during the harvest months of August, September and October.

Not all of the harvest-period deaths were the result of harvest-related activities – some were related to livestock and forestry activities.

However, the slight increase in fatalities confirms there is an increased risk to the health and safety of agricultural workers during this time.