EDD BANKS

Cambridgeshire grower Edd Banks was hoping to wrap up his harvest this week after recording highly variable yields.

By Monday night (29 August), he had 24ha of winter wheat and 114ha of Fuego spring beans left to cut.

“We sprayed the beans off on Saturday, so they should be ready by the weekend,” he said.

“The pods are ripe, but the stalks are still green. They have stayed greener for longer, so hopefully it has given them the chance to put on more weight and size.”

Harvest was delayed by a fortnight this year at Manor Farm, Harlton, Cambridge, until 28 July after a rainy spell. But overall, Mr Banks was pleased with the results.

Light land crops were hit hardest by the drought, but crops on heavy land have performed surprisingly well, he said.

Alchemy, the mainstay of first wheats, yielded 8.74t/ha on average, a little below the farm’s average of 9-9.5t/ha.

Gallant has performed “surprisingly well” in the second wheat slot, he noted. “A big block of it has yielded 8.2t/ha on average. It has also produced a lot of straw.

“We’re looking at getting quite a good premium for the Gallant. It’s got reasonable quality with hagberg of 313 and protein of 12.9%.”

The Gallant was all cut under 14% moisture content and has been farm-stored, ready to sell.

It produced over three round bales per acre and most has been sold to a trader in Holland.

“We have been loading it up onto lorries as fast as we have been baling it,” said Mr Banks. “By the end of the season, we will have done 4,000 bales.”

Cordiale second wheat yields by comparison have been disappointing at 7.7t/ha, he added. “Sadly, a lot of it has not made the quality.”

Tipple spring barley yields on his lighter land have been extremely poor, at just 2.5t/ha.

“Normally, an average of 6t/ha is possible if you do it right. But it just didn’t work out on the light land,” he said.

“I have never seen such a small crop. It was half a foot high in places.”

Edd Banks farms 1,200ha in a family partnership from Manor Farm, south west of Cambridge.

STEVE LEE

Wet weather and late maturing wheats were hampering harvest progress for Devon grower Steve Lee this week.

By Tuesday (30 August), he had harvested just 65ha of his total wheat area and at least 400ha of winter wheat and Fuego spring beans still needed cutting.

“We are having a pretty rotten time at the moment. I’m a bit concerned about the lack of progress,” he said.

“The oilseed rape should be in the ground by now, but we have still got an awful lot of wheat to cut before it goes in.”

The wet late summer has meant crops from Black Dog, near Crediton, were running significantly behind their maturity pace.

“Wheats are about two weeks behind. Scout in particular has been very late maturing,” said Mr Lee.

“We are suffering from very green straw, although it has been sprayed off. It’s causing us problems getting it through the combine.”

The changeable weather has meant harvesting some wheat at high moisture levels and putting it straight through the farm’s Mecmar dryer.

On Monday, he was cutting Sahara winter wheat at 25% moisture content, which “wasn’t much fun”. But on Tuesday, another block of Sahara wheat was coming off the combine at 19% moisture.

“I’m only cutting it at that moisture because I have got a big acreage and I’m concerned I won’t get everything done in time,” he said. “It’s costing me a lot of money to dry it.”

However, there were some grounds for optimism as yields and quality have been excellent, he noted.

For first wheats, Lear has yielded on average 12.4t/ha, Scout around 10t/ha and second wheat Sahara just below 10t/ha. All three varieties have decent bushel weights in excess of 80kg/hl.

Mr Lee said spring barley yields have been “absolutely incredible”. Around 20ha of Quench and 8ha of Garner were harvested for seed. Quench has yielded 10t/ha and Garner 9.2t/ha.

“There are weather concerns, but I don’t mind waiting if we are going to get such brilliant yields,” he added.

Steve Lee farms 485ha of rented ground from his base in Black Dog, near Crediton in central Devon.

Check out the latest Barometer farmer harvest reports.