Another harvest is done and I am yet to decide whether I am pleased, disappointed or somewhere in between.

It was a late start to harvest here at home, with the Reflection winter wheat the first crop we cut.

Having been more prone to rust than an Austin Allegro all season, the omens weren’t good, but it yielded well and was an absolute pleasure to combine.

It thrashed easily, which meant I could charge along until the handbrake was firmly applied by the spring barley.

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Once you have cut one acre of barley, you have cut all 700. I would adjust this, tweak that and no matter what ingenious ideas I had to improve output, the straw losses would peg you back to 3.8km/hour.

In fields the best part of a kilometer long, progress seemed painful, especially as the slightest hint of moisture at night would leave the auger resembling a thatched cottage.

The spring beans were the biggest disappointment. Despite not being planted until nearly May, they grew to 6ft tall and podded reasonably. However, it is the size of the bean in the pod that was the problem.

They were small, but a beautiful colour with very little pest damage, so they should make human consumption quality.

Despite the headline yield being low, the reduction in herbicide spend of 77% from last year due to the late planting could well make this a more profitable approach in future.

One big success from the summer has been the 17-year-old chaser bin I bought before harvest. One quick Formula 1-style tyre change from 700s to 1050s, coupled with the trusty John Deere 6920 on dual wheels, has meant it will walk on water.

Hopefully this will aid my transition to direct drilling by being kind to the soil.

While I have been writing this article I have changed my mind – I am pleased with this season.

Yields have been lower on the whole than I am used to, but so has my cost of production. My “agricultural happiness barometer” is set by the levels of blackgrass seed return, and as that has been very low, I am happy!

Will Howe farms 384ha of medium to heavy land at Ewerby Thorpe Farm, near Sleaford, Lincolnshire. He mainly grows spring crops and also manages a further 200ha on contract.