Menu

Know How / Harvest

Harvest is the busiest time of year for arable farmers. Get ready for harvest with advice on hiring harvest workers, maintaining combines and harvest kit and preparing grain stores and crop storage. Keep-up-to date with harvest progress around the country and get the yield results as they come in. 

Advice and tips

DISEASE MANAGEMENT

Why fusarium risk is rising in wheat and how to manage it

With rising incidence of fusarium ear blight and changes to mycotoxin legal limits on the horizon, experts are advising wheat growers to adopt a more water-tight, integrated approach to minimising…

ARABLE

Tips for raising oilseed rape yields

Oilseed rape growers taking part in an Adas-organised yield competition averaged 0.5t/ha more than their counterparts in Germany last season, a country that has historically out-yielded the UK. While the…

MACHINERY

Top tips to keep your combine running in the wet

August invariably delivers a spell of bad weather, so we’ve put together 20 top tips from the experts on how to ease the flow of damp crops through the combine.…

BUSINESS

Legal, tax and management tips for a smooth harvest

Farmers Weekly’s harvest webinar is packed with practical farm management, employment, tax and financial advice to help harvest go more smoothly. The advice comes from our Business Clinic partners –…

See all

Archive

FARMER FOCUS

Farmer Focus: Worried about poor cereal drilling conditions

Harvest finally finished on 6 October, when the last of our 1,266ha went through the combine. And in a fitting end to the season, a sunny day turned to drizzle…

FARMER FOCUS

Farmer Focus: Third wet harvest takes its toll

I like to think I am normally reasonably positive and optimistic, but this harvest and the past couple of weeks, in particular, have really tested me and, I'm sure, many…

FARMER FOCUS

Farmer Focus: Only 10 good combining days this harvest

Harvest is finally complete and although it has dragged on, we have had one of our earlier finishes, particularly with the wheat harvest finishing on 2 September. All in all,…

FARMER FOCUS

Farmer Focus: Spring barleys reviewed as harvest drags on

As harvest has progressed, the weather pattern seems to be getting worse, with frequent rain meaning that to date we have only managed a maximum of three successive whole days…

See all

Case studies

HARVEST

Video: Farmer shares lessons learnt fighting huge crop fire

Since the early start to harvest at the beginning of July, Twitter has been awash with reports of crop fires across the country, exacerbated by tinder-dry conditions. As the hot,…

PULSES

How winter bean grower in Yorkshire achieved top yields

A perfect bean-growing year produced a record yield for one East Yorkshire grower and a good enough sample for human consumption to win a prestigious quality award. Robin Smyth grew…

ARABLE

Video: Hands Free Hectare - what next for the farming robots?

Excitement, pride, trepidation – just some of the feelings buzzing around a perfectly square hectare field in Shropshire as a driverless combine took its first bite of a crop that…

HARVEST

Lincs grower sets sights on 2018 wheat yield record attempt

Lincolnshire Wolds grower Tim Lamyman is planning to drill his winter wheat earlier this autumn in his quest to break the world wheat yield record, after falling short this summer.…

See all

Community

FARMLIFE

Get your harvest photo on FW's cover – competition open

There's still time to enter your best photos of harvest 2018 into our competition to find a jaw-dropping front cover image for Farmers Weekly magazine. We want to celebrate harvest…

HARVEST

More ways of coping with being a 'harvest widow'

Our article, "10 ways of coping with being a 'harvest widow'", seemed to strike a chord with all those spouses leading a largely solitary existence while harvest is under way. It…

FARMLIFE

10 ways of coping with being a 'harvest widow'

Combines are rolling, so we should spare a thought for all the spouses who will be leading a solitary existence until harvest is complete. If you’re in that category, here…

HARVEST

9 ways farmers can beat harvest stress

Harvest is upon us and it is a time of year that tests even the most patient combine driver, turning saint-like farmers into gibbering wrecks. A long spell of dry…

See all

Insights

HARVEST

Harvest 2018: The 5 top-yielding winter oilseed rape varieties

Throughout the harvest season we will be updating this handy map with the latest data from this year’s AHDB oilseed rape Recommended List 2018 harvest results. Use the map below…

HARVEST

Harvest 2018: The 5 top-yielding winter barley varieties

Throughout the harvest season we are updating our handy map with the latest data from 2018’s AHDB winter barley Recommended List harvest results. Use the map below to find the…

HARVEST

Harvest verdict: OSR the big winner for 2017

Oilseed rape yields jumped sharply this summer as the weather seemed to suit the crop while the picture with wheat output was more regional. Prospects for the rapeseed crop edged…

See all

News

ARABLE

Harvest 2018: Wheat a week off in Scottish Highlands

Wheat harvest continues with variable yields and quality across England, while in the Highlands of Scotland it is still a week away. One growing concern north of the border is…

HARVEST

Harvest 2018: Malting barley quality good despite low yields

The spring malting barley harvest is set to produce enough quality grain for the maltsters despite lower yields due to a shortened growing season. A late wet spring followed by…

HARVEST

Harvest 2018: Stronger prices ease yield pain

The wheat harvest is beginning to wrap up in some parts of the country and oilseed rape is also heading towards an early finish. While yields of both crops are…

HARVEST

Harvest 2018: Cereal yields are better than expected

In Northumberland and the Scottish Borders, the winter wheat harvest is about 15% complete, with a few combines clearing up the last of the winter barley, said Gary Bright, managing…

See all

Opinion

HARVEST

Opinion: Dad's sayings fit Harvest 2016 very well

For some reason, that probably lies deep in my subconscious, I think about Dad a lot at harvest time. He died in autumn 2007, so this is the ninth harvest…

See all

Video

HARVEST

Video: Yields down but quality also a worry for spring crops

Delayed drilling due to the wet spring and an early harvest have combined to take their toll on both the yield and quality of one Essex grower’s 480ha of spring…

HARVEST

Harvest 2018 video: wheat quality good but yields disappoint

The early wheat harvest is producing generally high-quality grain although yields are lower, with many crops having seen no rain for more than two months in the summer heatwave. Early…

HARVEST

Video: Farmer shares lessons learnt fighting huge crop fire

Since the early start to harvest at the beginning of July, Twitter has been awash with reports of crop fires across the country, exacerbated by tinder-dry conditions. As the hot,…

ARABLE

Video: Sugar beet yields heading for 100t/ha in Lincolnshire

This season’s bumper sugar beet harvest is progressing well with about one-third of the 107,000ha planted now out of the ground and a quarter of the crop already processed. In Long…

See all