Keith Snowball said there was still a fair amount of ripe crops to cut in Brandsbury, Yorkshire, and much more to cut further East in the Yorkshire Wolds.

“There’s probably less than 20% still to cut but this is an abnormal time for the ripeness of what is left, so we’re grabbing what we can between showers.”

The last field he cut was at 20% moisture, with most recent crops coming in at 17-19% moisture. “We’re cutting just to get it in.”

Grain merchants had told him wheat quality was variable – some Hagbergs had gone totally while others were testing ok. Anywhere where the heads of wheat were towards the ground were beginning to sprout, but he said most crops in the area were still standing.

Mr Snowball had heard that quite a few people were home saving first wheat seed this year.

He said many of his neighbours were behind on drilling oilseed rape as they were trying to get all their wheat harvested.

“We are drilling oilseed rape today and we’re usually drilling rape until the first week of September. But some have gone to the other extreme and drilled on the 8-9 August.”