At the moment he is harvesting 32ha (80 acres) of bachelor peas yielding 3.95 t/ha at 14% moisture after a weekend of very good weather.

“It wasn‘t too bad – my air conditioning was working very well.”

Mr Ball has also finished harvesting his Winner and Expert oilseed rape crop.

The Winner yielded 3.71 t/ha (1.5 t/acre) while the Expert was at 4.45 t/ha (1.8 t/acre) that Mr Ball said “was quite pleasing”.

It was the first year Mr Ball grew Expert and after the results of this year‘s harvest he intends to increase his acreage next year.

But he said he would continue to grow Winner because of its early maturing characteristics.

“It is early maturing so it all helps us to get going early.”

“The rape was coming in between 6-8% which was ideal because we didn’t need to dry much at all.”

Mr Ball had no problems with the establishment of the crop.

“We were very lucky. We got just enough rain at the end of August to keep it going.”

Mr Ball hopes that while the rape crop has failed in other areas prices might increase.

“We might do well this year.”

Weather permitting, Mr Ball hopes to start harvesting his wheat on Wednesday (4 Aug).