Chris Cockayne finished harvest last night (15 September) at Cropwell Butler, Notts, and was pleased with yields overall.

“The quality has dropped away at the end, but we’ve been quite lucky here and are very relieved to have finished.”

The Tipple spring barley had yielded well and all made the grade for seed, said Mr Cockayne.

He reckoned there was still 10% of the wheat to cut in the area, with some of the big estates struggling in particular.

Although he had managed to drill some rape on the light land, he had abandoned rape crops after 16ha (40 acres) on the heavy land.

“The quality of the ground wasn’t satisfactory to get the establishment that we want. We will have to do some other planning to put something else in.”

Crop: Oilseed rape
Variety: Castille
Area: 4ha (10 acres)
Yield: > average

Crop: Spring barley
Variety: Tipple
Area: 73ha (180 acres)
Yield: > average

Crop: Winter wheat
Varieties: Einstein and Humber
Area: 150ha (370 acres)
Yield: > average