Farmers are pressing on with harvest today (25 July), with showers forecast for many parts of the country this weekend.

Adrian Howell started cutting Astrid oilseed rape at 7% moisture last night in Sutton Bridge, Lincs. “It is 11% moisture today but we’re pressing on because it talks of rain,” he said. “Quality looks promising and yield is very pleasing at 4.5t/ha (1.8t/acre).”

In North Weald, Essex, Andrew Kerr had finished harvesting his barley, and was waiting for the rape to ripen. “Barley yields seem to be fairly reasonable at 6.2-8.6t/ha (2.5-3.5t/acre) – and in West Essex there doesn’t seem to be much left to cut,” he said. His 17ha (42 acres) of Pearl grown for seed averaged 7.4t/ha (3t/acre). “We’re quite pleased with that.”

Although Mr Kerr said rape yields in the area were poor, further south in Hampshire Tim Sykes was very pleased with his Komando, yielding 4.5t/ha (1.85t/acre) with an oil content of 45.7%.

Winter barley and oilseed rape were both yielding well at Peter Francesconi’s Dean Farm, Ashford, Kent. His Pearl and Cassata barley averaged slightly better than last year at 7.4t/ha (3t/acre), and the Castille rape was better than expected at over 3.7t/ha (1.5t/acre).

In Corsham, Wilts, James Stafford had started his Astrid oilseed rape, which looked very patchy and was averaging 2.7t/ha (1.1t/acre) so far.