“I’d written my barley off, but when I put the combine in it turned out to be better than expected,” he said.

Yield from the sandy soil was 9 t/ha (3.64 t/acre) this year when it was 8 t/ha (3.24 t/acre) the year before. “I’m very happy”, he commented.

Mr Turnbull is exporting his barley, which has a specific weight varying between 60 kg/hl – 74 kg/hl and an average moisture content of 14%.

Mr Turnbull is very optimistic about his wheat crop.

“Although the wheat suffered on the sandy ground because of the earlier dry weather, it now looks tremendous.”

He now hopes to start harvesting his rape on Monday.

“During the dry spell the rape didn’t take up all the nitrogen, but with the recent wet weather it’s been able to soak up the excess nitrogen making it look quite good”

Although, he did describe the oilseed rape as “a little bit mix and match”

“We need some sun over the weekend if we’re to start harvesting the rape on Monday (July 19).”