Harvest has scarcely started in Londonderry, Northern Ireland, with less than 2% of the winter barley cut, according to Robert Craig of Carse Hall, Ballykelly.

“Some of my neighbours have started harvest after spraying the crops off, but most of the winter barley is 10 days away.

“If we had a good week this week there could be 15-20% of it ready, but it is very showery.”

Crops did not look brilliant, following the wet autumn, he said. “We had very tough conditions over the winter, with a lot of capping.”

Winter barley that Mr Craig had cut for crimping at 22-23% had yielded the dry equivalent of about 7.7t/ha (3.1t/acre) – 2.5t/ha (1t/acre) down on last year.

Spring crops at Carse Hall also only looked average, he added.