Colin Rayner has suffered his first arson attack of the season, with four or five rows of barley straw going up in flames on Sunday night (13 July).

“We finished harvesting a field of winter barley at Wey Manor Farm, New Haw, Chertsey on Saturday night and got a call from our neighbour on Sunday night to say the fire brigade were on their way,” he said. “At least we’d finished combining it.”

Farming on the urban fringe, Mr Rayner had about seven arson attacks each year. “That’s one of the reasons we grow winter barley, so it can be cut before the schools break up. And oilseed rape, too – as it’s difficult to set fire to.”

Barley yields had been mixed, with Cassia and Sequel yielding up to 9t/ha on drier land, but really struggling on river plains where it had been flooded. “We had some land at Chertsey that was under water for 20 days, and it just didn’t tiller,” he said.

See also: Harvest begins in South of England.

“We even got stuck with the grain trailer – there was still water lying in the tramlines.”

Oilseed rape was similarly variable, according to whether it had flooded, said Mr Rayner. “We started combining that today, alongside baling barley straw as fast as we can.

“The prices aren’t good, but we’re very lucky that we’ve got a harvest at all – some neighbours haven’t got anything to cut after the floods.”

However, with barley at £104/t ex-farm, and rent rising to £620/ha in the area, he was planning a major rethink of rotations.

“You have to wonder if it’s really worth growing anything on the urban fringe – perhaps we should leave it and use it for greening. At these prices it’s just not sustainable.”