Combines are cutting into spring barley and winter wheat crops across the country, with good yields and quality. In the North, oilseed rape is getting under way with pleasantly surprising yields.

Kelso

Starting up near St Boswells, the oilseed rape harvest is nearly complete at Mertoun Estate Farm, earlier than expected and with good yields, according to farm manager Jack Parsons.

The 250ha of Tom, Adeline and Chrome oilseed rape will average just under 5t/ha once harvest is complete, he says. “It has nice big seeds, which do help the yield.”

See also: Harvest 2025: 5 top-yielding winter OSR varieties

The 180ha of Caravelle and Canyon barley are complete, yielding 8.5t/ha. “It’s above average, but not record-breaking. The Canyon probably did better than the Caravelle, but it does depend on soil type,” Jack says.

“It has a good, bold sample, with specific weights in the low 60s.”

Once OSR is complete, he will move on to oats and wheat. “The wheat has always looked like it has some potential; we were lucky in this area with rainfall when others didn’t get it. Everything was established well in the autumn.”

Yorkshire

Harvest began almost a week ago at the high altitudes of Long Plain Farm near Thirsk, with winter barley followed closely by OSR.

The Academic OSR came off well at 4.9t/ha, according to Derek Cornforth. “This seems to have been the crop of the year. We’ve had more oilseed off this year than we had winter barley last year.”

Harvest kicked off with 25ha of Tardis winter barley. At 900ft above sea level, the crop experienced some dry conditions, but yields were surprisingly good at 7.4t/ha and 65kg/hl specific weight.

“The winter barley has surprisingly yielded much better than last year despite the lack of rain,” says Derek.

However, straw yield was low due to it being short. Next will be 13ha of spring barley, which he expects to cut early next week.

Surrey

In the South East, it’s been a harvest of solid, if unspectacular, results for Giles Porter and his team at Penn Croft Farms near Farnham. 

Three-quarters of the winter wheat is now harvested, with Palladium, Champion and Typhoon in the rotation. Yields have varied between 6t/ha and 8.5t/ha, but the milling wheats have hit specification.

In terms of quality, Hagbergs are well over 360, with specific weights consistently above 78kg/hl. Protein levels have been solid too, ranging from 13% to 14%, providing some confidence in the end-market potential.

Spring barley is only halfway through at this stage, with indications yields will hover around 5t/ha.

Cutting winter wheat at Upper Triley Farm, Abergavenny © George Whittal-Williams

Around 50ha of Mascani oats have been cut and have just been sent away for sampling. Achieving yields of about 5.5t/ha, the crop is notably down from last year’s 8t/ha.

“The weather has been the main factor this year as crop health’s been fine, we’ve just not had the moisture,” Giles explains.

OSR was a mix of Tom, Armada, Duplo, Pinnacle and Matrix, and yields were reasonable at about 4t/ha.

Winter barley kicked off the campaign, with 121ha of Kingsbarn now safely in the shed. Moisture content was generally around 15% and yields averaged 6.5-7t/ha.

Once again, the dry spell has left its mark, exposing soil type variability across fields, and Giles plans to revisit nutritional strategies going forward to better support resilience.

A combine with a view at Start Point on the south Devon coast © Dan Tucker

Dorset

Spring barley was under way until rain stopped play yesterday (31 July) at North Farm near Wimborne.

The 242ha of Laureate was yielding well at 7-7.5t/ha on the chalk land. “I’m yet to get a sample back but the specific weight looks good,” says Peter Snell.

The 404ha of Beowulf and Crusoe wheat achieved full specification at 13% protein, and yields have been between 9.5t/ha and 10t/ha.

He has 60ha of wheat and 101ha of spring barley still to cut, so he hopes to be back into it soon.