Richard Stephen is getting on well with harvest at Muirton of Barra, Oldmeldrum, Aberdeenshire, with most of his spring barley in the barn.

“It’s been wet over the weekend, but if it dries up we hope to finish harvest this week (w/c 1 September),” he said.

Yields had been good, although quality of the Concerto spring barley was now starting to suffer after the wet weather.

“It’s now showing some skinning so it’s not suitable for malting, but we have more than filled our contract so it may well have been feed barley anyway,” said Mr Stephen.

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Retriever winter barley had suffered from low bushel weights in some fields, but where the grain was bolder yields had matched those of Glacier, which was pleasing, he added.

“Oilseed rape did well – the weather was terrible when it was in the swath, but we didn’t lose too much thankfully.”

Having only cut some winter wheat for alkalage so far, Mr Stephen hoped to move into the Viscount proper this week.

“Some of it is looking as if it’s sprouting, but it’s still standing,” he said.

“There’s a lot of spring barley left to cut around here, which is quite brackled. People have been concentrating on getting the barley in so not a lot of wheat has been cut yet, either.”