Thank goodness it has stopped raining so that flood waters can recede and sodden land dry out.

I feel sorry for those unfortunate farmers south of the Border in areas like the Somerset Levels, whose land and buildings were underwater. It must have been a very distressing time for them, and it will take years for them and their businesses to recover.

Whilst Scotland has not suffered flooding to anything like the same extent as parts of England and Wales, there are many individual farmers who have experienced significant damage and losses in one of the stormiest winters in parts of Scotland. There has also been localised flooding in Dumfries and Galloway, Ayrshire, the Borders, Perthshire and the North East.

Most of the worst affected areas in England were predominantly pastureland. They will have had problems with soil erosion, nutrients being leached out of the soil, and fences being washed away or clogged and leaning over with all the detritus carried by flood water. It will take a lot of work and expense to put right the damage.

Despite that, prospects for this year's harvest south of the Border are good. The autumn of 2013 saw a timely end to harvest, followed by dry weather and good soil conditions during much of September and early October 2013. This means that most planned winter crops were drilled within the ideal window, while soil temperatures were still warm.

Establishment of early drilled crops were at average levels, but with adequate plant numbers and strong growth early in the season, these crops were better established than in the previous year. Because of this, they coped well with the high rainfall that followed in spite of localised "ponding" and some larger scale flooding.

While there has been a significant area of flooded land, most tended to be in the west of England where there is more grassland, which overall represents a very small proportion of agricultural land. It is not clear at this stage the exact extent of the areas involved in recent floods, but comparable figures for the summer floods of 2007 suggest that in fact less than 0.75% of the wheat area was affected that year.

Scotland also enjoys a similar picture of healthy crops, but they are at risk and need to be protected against season-specific threats.

The heavy rainfall in the early months of 2014 has led to lower than normal soil mineral nitrogen levels and spring-drilled crops may be vulnerable to this.

In addition, mild air temperatures are a risk for the spread of diseases such as rusts in wheat, and high plant populations and early development are also both key risks for lodging (where crops become flattened to the ground), making spring growth regulators a priority for a number of crops.

Winter wheat is a less widely grown crop than barley north of the Border. Winter barley crops in Scotland are carrying high levels of mildew, net blotch and rynchosporium, making fungicide programmes crucial this year.

Then there is the threat from pests such as cereal and oilseed rape aphids that are likely to fly considerably earlier this year. The temperature in January and February was much higher than the long-term average across the country.

As a result of the mild winter, it is estimated the first aphid flights will be two to four weeks earlier than average.

Elsewhere the wet and windy weather has caused misery for those livestock farmers who winter their animals outside.

Those with free-range pigs on heavier land have struggled to get vehicles carrying feed and straw across the sodden, muddy land to the pig arks, and transport young weaned pigs back from their mothers to the rearing sheds.

Working hard all day long in wind and rain clad with Wellingtons and waterproofs takes the shine off the job, particularly when you have to manually carry feed to the pigs.

Meanwhile, the pigs watch all this human endeavour and misery from the shelter of their snug pig arks - a salutary reminder that it's the farmers who benefit most by putting their animals into expensive, but comfortable, human-friendly buildings for the winter.

It's been much the same for those who out-winter cattle, where heavy hooves have trampled pasture into a sea of mud, particularly the area around the feed troughs.

Once again, while hardy cattle with their thick, hairy hides cope well with wet weather, it's the cattlemen who suffer most as they deliver daily rations to the charges in their care.