Carl Driver is getting on well with harvest at Brittons Farm, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, having just started on winter wheat.

“We’ve cut about 500ha of oilseed rape and 200ha of winter barley, and have done about 60ha of winter wheat,” he said.

Oilseed rape did well, at just over 4t/ha, with Extrovert and PR46W21 yielding slightly more than the Excalibur.

“It all came in dry, as did the barley, which yielded 7.5-8t/ha.”

The Cassata barley all made the malting grade, at 1.75% nitrogen, said Mr Driver. “But it’s not worth very much – I’ve fixed the base at £173/t ex-farm for November, but the malting premium is only £7 to £8/t at the moment.

“We won’t grow winter barley next year – it only gave us a couple of days’ head start before the Excalibur was ready.”

Gallant winter wheat was coming off at 20.5% moisture today (9 August). “I’m not going to comment on the Gallant much, apart from to say that it’s variable.

“It’s got the milling quality, except in the specific weight department.”

Crop: Oilseed rape
Varieties: Extrovert, PR46W21 and Excalibur
Area: 500ha
Yield: >4t/ha

Crop: Winter barley
Variety: Cassata
Area: 200ha
Yield: 7.5-8t/ha