About a fifth of the 180ha of oilseed rape Robert Stevenson grows around Aythorpe Roding in Essex has been combined after desiccation.

“We started on Monday and stopped yesterday having caught up with what was fit. That is early for us which probably reflects the drought.”

The dry weather also clearly hit ES Astrid’s yield, he believed.

“It’s done 25-28cwt/acre with moistures of 8.6-12%, so we have been drying. We haven’t had the quality tested yet, but there aren’t too many red seeds, and considering the ground it’s off, that’s not too bad. I’m reasonably happy.”

Some of his wheats were “a bit tangled” and probably two weeks off harvest, but his main concern was keeping on schedule with potato blight spraying.

Harvest Highlights 2007 is sponsored by RAGT.