AS THE unsettled weather shows no signs of abating, concerns continue to rise over the quality of crops awaiting harvest.

Many growers are now opting to face significant drying costs in a bid to get crops in during breaks in the weather.

“We‘ve been running the drier round the clock by doing shifts because the crops are wetter than usual,” said Scot farmer Charlie Stewart in Kelso.

He is also concerned hagbergs might be low after the wet weather, and with more rain forecast, it could potentially be a big problem.

“It‘s a complete and utter nightmare. It‘s the worst I‘ve ever seen in my life,” said Northumberland farmer Glen Sunderland, who started harvesting his wheat at 29% moisture content.

“I‘ve never known morale and confidence to be so low and despair so high.”

This view is echoed by Michael Manners who farms near Darlington, Durham, describing the current situation as “pretty dreadful“.

Some of his crop has been harvested at 23% moisture in order to get it into the shed.

Scott Adam, who farms near Kippen, Stirlingshire also reports slow progress.

“At the moment we are just snatching a day when we can – progress is pretty slow,” he said.

In contrast, Nick Davidson considers himself a lucky man for missing many of the showers and thunderstorms so far this year on his farm near Peterhead, Aberdeenshire.

He says his crops are looking very good and he‘s optimistic that this year is going to be a successful one.

Bucks grower Mike Lewton says so far his Xi19 had done “fantastically well“.

“I only hope that the weather will change soon,” he added.

According to FWi Weather Services, tomorrow (Aug 25) will start cloudy, with showery rain developing and moving east across the country throughout the day.