We ended up doing most of our combining in the second half of September in 2024. But, as we’re all aware, no two years are the same.

As things stand, I’m not even sure we’ll reach August before it’s all cut this harvest.

Over the past 10 days, the countryside has flipped from a luscious shade of green to a rapidly senescing golden colour with crops on lighter soils leading the charge.

See also: Hot weather triggers early barley harvest nationwide

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Billy Lewis

Billy Lewis farms 140ha in North Herefordshire in partnership with his parents. They keep Hereford cattle, sheep and grow combinable crops. He also contract farms an additional 110ha. Cropping includes wheat, oats and spring beans.

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Last week, we had the pleasure of hosting a farm tour for We Are Farming Minds, a Herefordshire-based charity that works to raise mental health awareness and support the agricultural community within the county.

It’s a cause that feels more relevant than ever in the turbulent times we find ourselves in as an industry.

The visit gave me a good excuse to clean the shed where we tip our grain before it’s transferred into the local central store. Sadly, we might not need all that much floor space this year if the dry weather persists.

That said, I won’t jump to conclusions yet. After all, we’ve had well above average sunlight hours this summer, which should do something positive for yields.

A potentially earlier harvest than usual will present good opportunities to make use of all of that aforementioned sunlight.

If crops are coming off in July, we will have plenty of time to carry out remedial cultivations – of which there will be a few – and then get some fast-growing catch crops straight into the stubbles.

The aim is to intercept all of that sunlight and pulling some carbon into the soil before the next cash crop is drilled in the autumn.

A big problem we might have with this plan is getting anything to actually grow in the moisture-depleted desert of north Herefordshire.

Recently, aerial imagery on Google Earth has been updated for our area, now showing shots from earlier this spring. I can only describe the view as catastrophic.

If you’re ever feeling like a rubbish farmer, spend half an hour being nosey from the comfort of your sofa on that app – you’ll quickly realise most of your neighbours are probably in the same boat.