Harvest has turned out surprisingly well for some growers, and the recent dry spell means progress has been good across most of the country.

Ian Moncrieff was busy cutting wheat in Dundee today (September 3), and was pleased with both his wheat and spring barley yields, at 9.9t/ha (4t/acre) and 6.2t/ha (2.5/tacre), respectively.

“Quite how the crops are so good I don’t know because we’ve had the most dreadful summer,” he said.

Harvest also proved better than expected at Duncan Whiteman’s farm in Shropshire.
“We finished the wheat a good 10 days earlier than normal,” he said. Wheat yields were good, with the Einstein second wheat coming in 7% above normal at 9.3t/ha (3.75t/acre).

Second wheats had also done well near Edinburgh, where Sandy Alison had about two days combining left.

But in Cornwall John Moss’s winter barley out-yielded his wheat, which was 1.2-2.5t/ha (0.5-1t/acre) down on average. “It’s been a disappointing harvest to say the least, although the higher prices have taken the gloom off the situation,” he said.

Rain in Cambridgeshire last night had stopped the combines at Anthony Morbey’s farm, leaving about three days of Beaver spring wheat left to do.

In Yorkshire Phil Dowson had finished harvest more easily than expected, with Robigus, Alchemy and Zebedee averaging 8.6t/ha (3.5t/acre). “In the end it was a relatively straightforward harvest,” he said. “But yields were disappointing.”