Some farmers in East Essex will be finishing wheat tomorrow (7 August), and are pleased with both quality and yields.

Agronomist John Snowball said he had two clients on the Essex coast who expected to finish wheat tomorrow, although the majority of farmers East of Chelmsford were between a third and halfway through harvest.

West of Chelmsford progress was more variable, with some people still finishing off oilseed rape.

“Everybody is well pleased with their wheat – I haven’t spoken to a farmer who’s been disappointed yet,” he said.

Group 1 milling wheats were all exceptionally good quality, and yields were also better than expected, with Solstice yielding up to 11.1t/ha (4.5t/acre).

“Having said that, Soissons has been struggling to do 3t/acre (7.4t/ha) as a continuous wheat in central Essex.”

Most crops had been coming in at 15-16% moisture, said Mr Snowball. “We haven’t had the rain the rest of the country has had.”

Rape crops which hadn’t been scrapped early in the season had yielded very well, at 5t/ha (2t/acre), equalling the pleasing results from naked oats and human consumption peas.