We've had dry weather in this part of Norfolk for the last 36 hours. Is this a record? For this particular July I think, perhaps, it is.
Anyway, I took advantage of the conditions to take a detailed look round our crops. Not that I could do much to improve things at this late stage in the season but I thought it worthwhile to assess likely yields.
My conclusions, subject to correction later if necessary, are these. Oil seed rape (ours is mainly on light land) could do quite well, always assuming we don't get the horrendous weather some forecasters are predicting for the next few weeks. It is almost ready to be dessicated and we will do this at the earliest opportunity.
Winter wheat, somewhat remarkably, seems relatively free of disease; most is still standing despite the heavy rains that have battered it and ears look to be of a good size. I doubt if the weather we have had for the last two months is ideal for wheat but I do not discount the possibility of reasonable yields. We just need a few weeks of hot dry weather from now on.
Spring beans on this farm look better than any other crop at present. They have grown tall, look healthy and appear to carry plenty of pods. They also have longer to grow in the field before harvest than the other combinable crops so there is more time for things to go wrong - like an attack of bruchid beetles, for instance. But we have sprayed against them so must hope for the best.
We have no winter barley this year so I've been looking over hedges and asking around to check conditions. All I can say is that malting quality will be at a premium this year. Almost every field has two crops; one that is fit to combine and another green one that grew when the May rain came. Separating the two in the barn will be a challenge that may not be successfully achieved.
Vining peas (other peoples, not ours) are probably the biggest disaster of the year with record low yields, many passed over because the land was too wet to harvest them and a degree of damage to soil structure caused by heavy machines the like of which has not been seen for years.
Finally sugar beet, which we do still grow. Like winter barley there are two crops on most fields caused by the April drought that inhibited the germination of seeds in dry land and the May rains that eventually provided moisture to make them grow. The plants that got off to a good start in April looked reasonable until a few weeks ago. The little, late germinating ones never really got going and remain small. But June rains were too much, even for a crop like beet that enjoys moisture. Today entire fields look yellow and waterlogged. I suspect the rain has capped and sealed the soil so much that it is devoid of oxygen. In any event the leaves of the plants that should be dark green and spreading across the land at this time of year are pointing straight up as if they want to escape their wet roots.
Can they recover to produce good yields? I rather doubt it. Its not going to be a good year for beet or some other crops, I'm afraid.