“I can‘t remember having as much hay harvest still to do as late as this.”

Only 3ha (8 acres) of a total of 18-20ha (45-50 acres) has been cleared so far, but he needs five clear days of sunshine to make a decent crop.

“I haven‘t been able to do a thing, which is most frustrating as it looks like running into barley harvest now.”

His 12ha (29 acres) of Siberia winter barley took a battering in the recent storms.

“Three-quarters of one field is somewhat flat. The winds have been horrendous.”

There are also 25ha (60 acres) of Canberra winter oilseed rape to cut, and Mr Warburton‘s Heros spring rape “looks excellent”.

“The wheat is coming on – it‘s all Solstice which we got on well with last year and achieved some decent premiums.”

He is planning to put in some Cordiale this autumn, hoping it will be a “Soissons mark two”.

“We gave up Soissons because we couldn‘t push the yield above 3t/acre (7.4t/ha), but the new varieties are looking promising.”