Drought affects Somerset crops

31 July 2001



Drought affects Somerset crops

TONY HIGGINS, farmer and contractor from Somerset, has reported low yielding crops due to a very dry May and June.

“Our stone brash land dried out.”

They have started combining Claire wheat. It has yielded between 6.4-7.4t/ha (2.6-3t/acre). The average yield last year on the farm was 9.2t/ha (3.75t/acre). This is disappointing. The moisture has been between 15-17%, and some has had to be dried.

The oilseed rape harvest finished two weeks ago. This yielded 2.5t/ha (1t/acre) which is -0.6t/ha (0.25t/acre) down.

They also have combined some feed barley for customers. Intro and Regina yielded 4.9-6.1t/ha (2-2.5t/acre), which is about -1.2t/ha (0.5t/acre) down.

In total, they combine 810ha (2000 acres) of cereals, of which 202ha (500 acres) is their own.

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