Martin Spence of Wolvey Holes Farm was enjoying the brilliant morning in East Anglia today, combining Einstein winter wheat.

Of 23ha (57 acres), so far 3ha (7 acres) had been cut and Mr Spence said it looked reasonable. Last week had done the crop good, he said “If the weather stays like this we’ll do alright.”

He didn’t expect the Einstein to break any records although it looked better than the Soissons.

Mr Spence had 8ha (20 acres) of Soissons to do. It had been sprayed with Roundup (glyphosate) to prevent further bindweed growth.

He said wheat straws were still green and said the bindweed could cause problems to combining. Overall he thought  yields would be similar to last year and was pleased that prices were up this year.

Mr Spence also had a few acres of potatoes suffering with blight that had proved difficult to manage. He couldn’t remember blight affecting potatoes as badly before despite spraying so he sympathised with organic farmers trying without spray.

*Harvest Highlights 2007 is sponsored by RAGT