Ben Atkinson is busy cultivating behind the combine at Grange Farm, Rippingale, Lincolnshire, as the winter barley harvest comes to a close.

“It’s gone okay so far,” he said. “We haven’t put anything over the weighbridge yet but we’re expecting good results.”

So far Mr Atkinson had cut 222ha of Saffron winter barley, which was yielding 8.5t/ha from the combine’s readings at 14% moisture.

The bushel weight was better than last year, at 66kg/hl.

And the 459ha of oilseed rape cut so far had averaged 4t/ha at 9% moisture, with Avatar outperforming other varieties.

“We drilled the Avatar first so it’s not surprising it performed the best,” said Mr Atkinson. “It was a difficult job to get it right last year and it’s clear the drilling dates made all the difference.”

He still had another 459ha of rapeseed left to do, with the poorest areas still not ripe.

Meanwhile, work was well underway on getting next year’s crop in the ground.

“We’re busy cultivating behind the combine and it’s taking a lot of horsepower to pull the cultivator through the wet subsoil,” said Mr Atkinson. “There’s no doubt we’re living the legacy of last summer.”

Crop: Winter barley
Variety: Saffron
Area: 222ha
Yield: 8.5t/ha

Crop: Oilseed rape
Varieties: Mixed
Area: 459ha
Yield: 4t/ha