The harvest has been “the worst in living memory” in parts of the county, according to Kent arable farmer Clive Apps.

He says the heavy rain reduced the value of his wheat crop by 10 per cent in over a week.

Mr Apps, who farms just under 1,000 acres of crops on Romney Marsh and surrounding areas, said: “This is the worst harvest in living memory in this area and the wettest August since 1912."

But according to a national newspaper the county has not suffered as badly as parts of the north east where farms have harvested less than 50 per cent of their potential yield.

This has led to the quick intervention of Hilary Benn, the Rural Affairs Secretary, to relax EU rules to help those farmers salvage their crops.

Anthony Curwen, managing director of the Quex Park Estates’ in Sandwich, said conditions could have been a lot worse.

He said: “In Kent we have been very lucky and it has not been the same as the rest of the country.

“We have got away with it by the skin of our teeth. If the weather had continued we would have seen severe crop losses.”

However, Mr Apps stressed that Kent farmers could stand to lose as much as £120 per acre because the quality of the milling wheat has been devalued to that of feed wheat prices.

He also said that farmers on average have paid out an extra £60 an acre on drying wheat because of the poor weather.

“Our costs have gone up more than any other industry. Fertiliser which is oil-based has trebled in price, diesel has doubled and machinery costs have gone up by 15 to 20 per cent.

“On top of this bad weather we have got these incredibly high prices to deal with next year and it’s not going to be an easy business to be in.”