Neil Thomson is pushing to finish his wheat at Caverton Mill, Kelso, Scotland, and is pleased with yields so far.

“It’s yielding surprisingly well.” So far he had cut half of his 200ha (500 acres) of wheat, with Cordiale and Robigus yielding 9.9t/ha (4t/acre) and Viscount averaging 8.6t/ha (3.5t/acre). “For us, that’s very good.”

However, spring barley yields had been disappointing, with Optic, Oxbridge and Forensic averaging just 5.6t/ha (2.25t/acre).

Quite a lot had failed to make the malting grade due to germination problems, he said. “East Lothian seems to be particularly badly affected, and people are saying they never want to touch malting barley again.”

Movement of contracted barley was also proving slow. “It’s a concern because it could be losing quality in the heap.”

After the winter wheat, Mr Thomson also had beans to combine, but was yet to spray them off.

Crop: Winter wheat
Varieties: Cordiale, Robigus and Viscount
Area: 100ha (250 acres)
Yield: 8.6-9.9t/ha (3.5-4t/acre)

Crop: Spring barley
Varieties: Optic, Oxbridge and Forensic
Yield: 5.6t/ha (2.25t/acre)

Crop: Winter barley
Variety: Pearl
Area: 8ha (20 acres)
Yield: 6.5-7t/ha (2.6-2.8t/acre)