Robert Ramsey near Arbroath, Angus said his spring barley has been “dreadful” following a difficult season.

He is around a quarter of the way through 120ha and said that despite unsettled weather, crops are coming in dry at 17% moisture.

“With cool, sunny weather and a good drying wind, we’ll keep plodding on.”

Cocktail is averaging 5-6t/ha and there is little difference in yields between varieties, or across soil types, he said.

While spring crops on heavy land may have suffered in the wet start to the season, very light land has been no better, he said. “Possibly it suffered from the summer drought.”

Most barley is grown for seed, but Mr Ramsey believes that if it was for malting, it would not reach the required quality specification.

By comparison, he said his wheat is looking alright. “At least it should be a lot better than the barley!”

• Crop/Variety: Cocktail spring barley


• Area: 120ha


• Yield: 5-6t/ha


• Quality: N/A