There are two good things about Hurricane Bill. It means I can get this written before the deadline and it’s saving me a fortune in irrigation.

We had duly laid out pipes and even used them for a couple of days, which, as any of you involved with irrigation will know, can be very stressful.

My poor daughter Kate “enjoyed” her afternoon so much when delegated to stop the pump engine so that I could repair yet another burst. You can imagine my trying to explain to her over the noise of the roaring engine from 500m away that it’s “not that switch!”.

There’s a local theory that as soon as the Thomsons put the irrigation on, it will rain. I can announce, officially, this is now proven.

Harvest has been stop-start for us, with only two decent days of combining a week. But we’re much further ahead than last year; only 6ha of spring barley is left, and the wheat isn’t really pushing yet.

Winter barley was cut in good conditions. Most of it achieved malting, but there was one field that didn’t make the grade. Yields were poor to average, which seems the norm this year.

Where the oilseed rape was visibly good, so was the yield. Unfortunately, but unsurprisingly, the opposites were also true. The same can be said of our Zero 4 peas, but despite my fears, they were a joy to cut.

I’m pleased to say that from sampling our spring barley quality looks good, though time will tell whether this will be reflected on delivery.

Yield, however, has been disappointing, with Forensic and a field of Optic below 2t/acre and the average little better than 2.25t/acre. As Fraser from Dad’s Army once put it: “We’re doomed” if the wheat’s as poor.

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