Harvest 2014 is getting underway across the south and east of England, with winter barley and oilseed rape yields both looking promising.

Oilseed rape yields were looking good at Chivers Farms Ltd, Impington, Cambridge, where farm manager Alister Farr had cut 75ha so far.

“We’ve harvested about 55ha of Avatar and 20ha of DK Extrovert – but we’ve had to leave small blocks in most fields so can’t confirm exact yields,” he said.

However, he expected to exceed his budgeted 3.8t/ha, with yields likely to be close to 4t/ha and moisture contents below 9%.

United Oilseeds had loaded and exported its first boat of new crop oilseed rape out of Ipswich, with the MV Olza is carrying 2650t of rapeseed to Rotterdam.

“Harvest has only really started in Essex and Cambridgeshire, and has been stop-start due to the weather,” said trading manager Owen Cligg.

Early yield reports were varied, from 2.5-4.5t/ha, with an estimated average of 3.5t/ha looking better than last year, he added.

Winter barley yields also seemed promising, with around 3000t now in Camgrain’s stores at Stratford, Linton, Cambridge and Northampton.

See also: All the news, photos, video and resources on our Harvest Highlights page

“One grower got 9.3t/ha of feed barley, which he was very happy with,” said managing director Philip Darke. “If early yields are an indication of wheat yields, it will be good.”

Nitrogen contents were low, as expected from higher yielding crops, which could imply a low-protein wheat crop, he added. “Moisture contents have been fairly low, at 15.8-16.7% in the main.”

In Cornwall, Matthew Collins made a start to this year’s harvest today (11 July), with winter barley now ready to cut near Marazion.

The barley, which Mr Collins was contract combining for a client, was for crimping, but was nearly ripe at 17-18% moisture.

“Our own winter barley will be ready to go next week, which is probably the earliest we’ve ever started,” he said.

In Kent, Andrew Pendry – who had already cut 72ha of oilseed rape at Burden Bros’ Old Rides Farm, Eastchurch – was also anticipating a record early start to wheat.

“It’s ripening really quickly and could be ready on about 25 July, which would be the earliest ever for us – we normally get into the wheat on 28-29 July,” said Mr Pendry.

“It looks really well and we’ve sold quite a lot forward at the right price. It could be really quite an exciting harvest.”