It may have felt like an October day at Priors Farm, near Newbury, Berkshire, but George Brown still had more than half of the harvest to get in. “We’re about five or six days behind normal,” he said.

So far he and his father Richard had cut 73ha (180 acres) of Betty oilseed rape and 24ha (60 acres) of Alchemy winter wheat. “The rape looked superb but it went as flat as a pancake and only yielded 1.5t/acre (3.7t/ha),” said George.

The wheat yielded 8.6t/ha (3.5t/acre), coming in at between 14.9% and 20% moisture. “We’ve cut the worst of the wheat so it should get better from here.”

The combine had not been out since they were rained off on Friday, and there were still 61ha (150 acres) of Tipple spring barley and 45ha (112 acres) of wheat to cut. “The wheat is only just fit and the barley looks well so as long as the weather improves towards the end of the week things won’t be too bad.”

Crop: Oilseed rape
Variety: Betty
Area: 73ha (180acres)
Yield: 3.7t/ha (1.5t/acre)

Crop: Winter wheat
Variety: Alchemy
Area: 24ha (60 acres)
Yield: 8.6t/ha (3.5t/acre)