Grower Charlie Watson-Smyth of Padstow was about to combine Deben winter wheat when FWi’s Harvest Highlights rang.

Mr Watson-Smyth cut 20 tonnes of Deben winter wheat last night from a total of 40ha (100 acres) for feed. He said it looked alright but he expected low specific weights and wasn’t expecting yields to be high because of the lack of sunshine. On his thin soils he blamed the dry April for affecting crops rather than the recent wet weather.

He wasn’t pleased with the 2.5-5t/ha (1-2 t/acre) from his 32-34ha (80-85 acres) of Antonia winter barley, but he did still have some good-looking, Static spring barley ready to do.

He said the weather had been limiting progress but acknowledged others were worse off. “We’re behind with everything but we always catch up in the end,” He said.

Harvest Underway:
• Crop: Winter Wheat
o Variety: Deben,
o Area: 40 ha
o Cut: 20 tonnes

Harvest Completed:
• Crop: Winter Barley
o Variety: Antonio
o Area: 32-34ha
o Yield: 2.5-5 t/ha