Richard Payne has cut half of his spring beans at Manor Farm, Heathfield, Somerset, before being rained off again today (2 September).

So far the 24ha (60 acres) of Fuego beans had yielded over 5t/ha (2t/acre), which was reasonable, he said.

The last 36ha (90 acres) of Battalion, Alchemy and Humber winter wheat yielded a surprising 9.4t/ha (3.8t/acre) – well above the 3.25t/acre (8t/ha) that Mr Payne had expected.

He had now drilled his oilseed rape and cultivated most of the winter ground. “It’s not actually that late – it just feels late because we’ve been hanging around for so long.”

There was still quite a lot of wheat to cut in the area, which still looked reasonable, he said.

But slugs had attached the last of his wheat, climbing the stems and hollowing out grains in the ears.

“I was combining late one evening and there was this horrible slimy mess coming out of the back of the combine – it must have been the slugs.

“We’ve spent a fortune on slug pellets for the oilseed rape already – they are terribly bad this year.”

Crop: Spring beans
Variety: Fuego
Area: 24ha (60 acres)
Yield: >5t/ha (2t/acre)

Crop: Winter wheat
Varieties: Battalion, Alchemy and Humber
Area: 36ha (90 acres)
Yield: 9.4t/ha (3.8t/acre)

Crop: Oilseed rape
Variety: Castille
Yield: 4.4t/ha (1.8t/acre)