Robin Bartleet is combining today (25 July) at Abraham’s Farm, Great Tey, Essex, and is reasonably pleased with yields so far.

Winter barley, grown for seed, had not done too badly, given the dry spring, he said. “We only had an inch of rain in March, April and May.”

Cassata yielded about 6.2t/ha (2.5t/acre), while Matros had done better, at just under 7.4t/ha (3t/acre).

“It had a hard growing season – it went into not ideal conditions in September, and had a bit of rabbit damage. I think it’s quite a promising variety.”

Mr Bartleet had also cut some Zero4 peas, at less than 2.5t/ha (1t/acre). “They were very stressed by the dry weather.”

Today, he was starting combining Palmedor oilseed rape, which looked reasonable.

After that would be spring barley, which had suffered from regrowth; and wheat, which looked quite thin, he said.

“It looked very stressed at the end of May and there aren’t as many tillers as I would like.”

Crop: Winter barley
Variety: Matros
Area: 9.5ha (23 acres)
Yield: <7.4t/ha (3t/acre)

Variety: Cassata
Area: 8ha (20 acres)
Yield: 6.2t/ha (2.5t/acre)