Harvest is looking gloomy for Robert Bower at Manor Farm, Worksop, Nottinghamshire, with 52ha of spring barley suffering in the wet weather.

“It’s been ready to cut for at least a week now and today (31 August) has been the first nice day.”

With a deluge last Saturday, it was starting to look like winter as Mr Bower’s farm was nearly flooded.

“We had to lift all the man hole covers. Luckily I was at home, else we would have been flooded.”

Although the sun was out today, Mr Bower reckoned it would be Monday until the combine would be back on the field, with a lot of sun and wind needed to dry out a very soggy crop.

“We’re on blow away sand, I doubt you’d get anything lighter in the country,” he said. “But not many people have had as much rain as us. We normally miss it as well.”

With 22ha of his crop on low input Higher Level Stewardship scheme land, Mr Bower thought yields looked reasonable, but would be nothing to write home about.

“Only five miles away conditions are awful. I’ve heard of one farmer who’s had to chop all his straw as the ruts and ground conditions were so bad following combining.”