TheJournal.ie reports:
Because of poor weather most spring crops were planted between 6 and 8 weeks later than normal.
Farmers were banking on a perfect growing season for these crops to achieve a normal yield, however the drought set in shortly after planting and many crops have received almost no rain since they were placed in the ground.
Total cereal production is set to drop by 27% while, with production set to fall by a staggering 58%, the worst performing crop is forecast to be wheat planted in the spring.
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Thursday July 26 2018, @09:19PM (1 child)
This is true. In fact my own ancestors were tenant farmers in Devon and during the 1830's were basically starved off the land by their landlord.
Luckily for them, they were accepted as settlers by the New Zealand company and granted 50 acres at the new colony of New Plymouth [wikipedia.org]
There are couple of errors in the Wikipedia article, but the broad outline is correct.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 27 2018, @12:28AM
It was a blight and the absentee landowners insisted on eating and profiting -- the Irish landowners were not all protestant. Ireland had reached an unsustainable population density. [wesleyjohnston.com] We will see the same awful situation unfold again in Africa and will be in no position to help this time either. Reality is horrific and gallows humor is a common mechanism for coping with it.