'I'm a fourth-generation rhubarb farmer - planting it at the right time is crucial'
While yields this year are likely to have affected the profit for the Tomlinsons this year, they are able to have more successful harvests since they stopped growing cabbages and cauliflower on a commercial scale.
Robert Tomlinson, the fourth generation farmer running the rhubarb farm in Pudsey near Leeds, said they can now devote more time to timely planting and harvesting schedules solely for rhubarb.
He said: “We had problems when we grew 500,000 cabbages and cauliflower because we were too busy cutting cabbage to be concentrating on rhubarb.
“A lot of growers are struggling getting crops established with the weather. The time we have outside, when we are planting - that is the crucial part.
"We have more time planting at the right time of year and can finish planting in November. Some growers are planting in this weather - how can you plant anything in this?”
As demand increases, so does the price growers get which is prompting Mr Tomlinson to keep developing his rhubarb business.
“We used to have 12 sheds. My grandad, my dad, my great-grandad cut down to one because they weren’t getting anything but carried on because they had always done it.
"The buildings were hundreds of years old. They fell down and did not get repaired. The same as other growers, they fell into disrepair. In Wakefield they have built houses on some of the farms.
“Twenty-five years ago we were getting £7 a box, in the 80s it was 20p a box. I thought I would push on and make a few quid and I was trying to get into farming. I built it up and demand has increased.”
As well as extreme weather, climate change is bringing another problem for growers which also poses a threat to a successful harvest.
Mr Tomlinson explained: “Because it is milder, there are pests moving in now from Europe. In Holland they have pests eating the leaves which affects the growth.
"We just have to be aware of it and cross that bridge when we come to it.”