It is well documented that last year was wet, but scientists from Rothamsted Research's at North Wyke Farm Platform announced on Friday that nearly 1 billion litres of rain fell on their 68 ha (168 acre) grassland research centre in Devon in 2012.

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Having measured the copious rainfall, the researchers went into detail about their findings; they revealed that 18 million litres of rain fell during one 24-hour period in July 2012. During the deluge in July, around 5 million litres of water poured through the research centre's flumes which measure water leaving the individual experimental fields.

Whilst the measurements paint a spectacular picture of last year's wet weather, important analysis lies behind the measuring work; this is the first time this level of detail has been recorded at the farm scale in the UK. The researchers hope that by studying 'hydrologically isolated fields and farms' with state-of-the-art approaches and equipment, they will be able to address key issues in sustainable agriculture.

In a paper published last week, the North Wyke researchers showed that the average 10 year annual rainfall until 2011 was 909 mm. This increased by one-third in 2012. The longest continuous dry period recorded on the North Wyke Farm Platform during 2012 was only 7 days.

Lead scientist, Dr Jennifer Dungait commented, "as well as rainfall data, we also measured that some 70 percent, or 700 million litres, was lost as surface or subsurface drainage. This has direct relevance to farmers, for example we estimated silage yields were reduced by 50 percent in 2012, compared with 2011."

Dr Dungait continued, "These important and unique data highlight the fragility of farming systems to climatic variability and the need for longer-term farmscale research, as we adapt our farming systems to cope with climate change. Meteorologists have forecast that, for the foreseeable future, there will be more extreme weather events, including very heavy rainfall and periods of droughts and the extreme rainfall in the South West in 2012 fits with this prediction".