HEAVY SHOWERS have hit many farms across the UK while others escaped unscathed, allowing farmers to make much needed progress on the wheat harvest.

With most of the wheat now ready to be harvested, farmers are waiting for a turn in weather so they can get the combines rolling.

Quality and yields so far have looked promising but if the weather doesn‘t turn then Hagberg levels will almost certainly drop.

Some farmers have decided not to wait for the dry weather and are harvesting the wheat at high moisture contents in order to just get it off the field.

Owen Clegg from Wessex Grain in Wiltshire told FARMERS WEEKLY Harvest Highlights “It‘s about salvaging what they can and getting the most out of a difficult job.

“They are harvesting with the view that it‘s better if it‘s at 20% moisture in the shed rather than 20% in the field.”

He said approximately 35% of the wheat had been harvested in the area with good yields but fears quality may not be as good as expected.

Martin Boulden hasn‘t received any rain since Friday night, allowing him to harvest 80ha (200 cares) of Hereward wheat on his farm near Ashford, Kent.

“We‘ve had good combining conditions and we‘ve got good grain quality – I‘m very pleased.”

Tim Cooper  has harvested 70ha of Malacca wheat on his farm near Wix, Essex with so far pleasing results.

Hugh Schryver  from Glencore in Canterbury, Kent says this year “is a very confused harvest”.

“We‘ve got some farmers that have completely finished over a week ago while there are others who haven‘t even started yet.”

Luke Hawes is impressed with his first ever harvest of Nijinsky wheat on his farm in Buckinghamshire.

According to FWi weather services, on Wednesday Scotland will have a wet morning while the rest of the UK will have some sunny spells, but also frequent heavy storms.