Farmers are finishing combining wheat in many parts of England, leaving just beans and linseed to clear up.

In Warwickshire, Will Hemus finished combining wheat at Wheatcroft Farm, Nuneaton, yesterday (2 September), leaving spring beans to do.

“It is a relief to have finished wheat – we’ve had the best combining we’ve had all harvest over the past few days.

“We may have lost a bit of bushelweight, but it had only sprouted where it had been knocked down.”

Paul Temple finished harvest at Wold Farm, Driffield, Yorkshire, on Wednesday, after a relatively easy run.

“We were lucky as we avoided the worst of the weather, so it was really quite straightforward.”

But in Lincolnshire, Chris Hewis hadn’t started combining wheat at The Grange, Habrough, although quality still looked fine.

“It’s been a very frustrating harvest – it feels like ages ago that we started. We have been really hampered by the rain and waiting for crops to ripen.”

So far he was about 65% through harvest, with most people in the area about 75% through.

Harvest was two to three days behind normal at Doug Fowlie’s Millhill Farm, Longside, Aberdeenshire, but was now progressing well.

“It’s a beautiful day today and it’s all going well. The Zebedee wheat is very early and we cut it before the spring barley – we’ve never done that before.”

In Surrey, Giles Porter hoped to finish combining beans at Penn Croft Farms, Farnham, today, leaving just 30ha (74 acres) of linseed to cut.

“The Wizard beans have been pretty ropey – they just died out too early, although on the heavier ground they are better.

“There has been a definite split on the yield maps – the wheat on the gravel did less than 7.4t/ha (3t/acre), while on the good ground it was 9.4t/ha (3.8t/acre).”