Harvest is about to get underway with a vengeance in Scotland, although few crops have been cut so far, according to Agrii agronomist Jim Rennie.

“Some people have cut a little bit of winter barley, but the rest of it is just about there,” he said. “There’s a huge amount that’s almost ready to go.”

Early yields had been promising, particularly given that the earliest crops were usually the worst, said Mr Rennie.

“Two row barleys have been yielding 7.5-8.5t/ha, which is pretty reasonable considering they’re the first crops. And a few six rows are estimated to be closer to 10t/ha than 9t/ha, which is a good omen.”

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Many farmers had been flat out desiccating oilseed rape, which was between seven and 14 days ahead of normal, he added.

“One of the features of this season has been the warm temperatures, so crops aren’t early because they’re dying off, it’s because it’s an early season.”

Rapeseed crops looked particularly well, with the best pod set Mr Rennie had seen for a number of years. “There are lots of pods and they are big pods.”

However, wheat crops were more mixed. “The wheat is earlier than normal, and some varieties, particularly where they have been drilled early, are suffering with septoria,” he said.

“The HGCA needs to reassess varieties’ ratings for septoria, as there are some rated five that are miles worse than others with the same rating.”

Another noticeable problem was compaction in fields after two wet years, added Mr Rennie.

“You can see the flag leaf going yellow in patches or even whole fields, where the wheat couldn’t get its roots down. In this heat, that is now showing up very clearly.”