Harvest 2026: Mixed wheat quality and spring barley under way

Cornwall

In the far south, Mike Champion at Kernow Grain near Bodmin is expecting the first loads of wheat this week, with spring barley harvest also under way. “That is considerably early,” says Mike.

Having taken in 270t of oilseed rape, oil content has averaged 44%. Some 250t of oats have also come into store, at 50kg/hl specific weight and 11.5% moisture. “We haven’t had to start up the dryers yet.”

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Indeed, the mostly Caravelle winter barley has averaged 12% across the 2,400t taken in to date, with a specific weight of 64kg/hl.

“The specific weights haven’t been good this year; we believe this is due to the very dry weather running up to harvest,” says Mike.

“However, screenings have been nice and low, with some good, clean samples coming into store.”

Gloucestershire

In the West Midlands, farmers are a week ahead of their usual harvest timings and making rapid progress, according to Philip Smith at Western Arable Services.

Milling wheat, barley and oilseed rape have all come in store. “Winter wheat started coming in last week, and we even had our first load of beans at the weekend,” says Philip.

“It’s been a mixed bag on yields. Four weeks ago we were looking at some of the best crops in four to five years, but the past couple of heatwaves have taken out yield potential. The dry weather in May in particular stressed the plants.”

Wheat is looking good, coming in dry and around 76-80kg/hl specific weight, with milling wheats over 13% protein.

“The spring barleys are looking quite harsh; they ripened prematurely so have lost some yield potential,” he adds.

“The oilseed rape has generally not been bad, with overall quality looking slightly better than last year.”

Cambridgeshire

© Mike Tebbit

Over in the East, Mike Tebbit is about 60% through harvest at Foxes Bridge Farm, near Comberton.

The oilseed rape was completed in the second week of July, with yields slightly down, averaging 3.5t/ha, against the usual 4t/ha, and came in at 6.5-7.5% moisture.  

Last week Mike began cutting Group 1 milling wheat Skyfall, which is grown under contract to Warburtons.

“We are slightly disappointed with yields; the average is around 7.7t/ha, varying between 5t and-9t/ha depending on the soil type,” he says.

In a normal year, as a second wheat, he would be disappointed to get under 8.5t/ha.

The milling wheat moisture was 12.4-13.4%, with Hagbergs at 350-440 seconds, 82-84kg/hl specific weight and 13.5-14.9% protein.

Mike now has first wheats, spring oats and some spring barley left to cut.

“We normally expect first wheats to easily do 10t/ha but if they do 8.5t/ha we’ll be happy.”

Mike also shares labour and machinery with local farmers across 1,000ha.

“I anticipate this year will be the lowest yielding of any harvests [since the venture began in 2007], due to how dry it has been.”  

Tyne and Wear

In the North East, one load of milling wheat has come into store at Grainco near South Shields.

“Protein was good at 12.7%, but specific weight was low at 71.4kg/hl,” says farm trader Tom Carmichael.

“There seems to be a little concern as to how quickly wheat crops are dying off, and what effect this will have on quality when harvested.”

Winter barley harvest is well under way, with 4,500t in store of the total 10,000t expected.

“The majority has now been cut in our area, so we’re working on getting it in,” says Tom.

“Some farmers are happy, with yields around 7.4-8.6t/ha and specific weights around 67-68kg/hl. However, others have struggled with yields around 4.9-6t/ha, and substandard specific weights.”

Tardis and Kitty have shown to be more reliable and consistent varieties, while Caravelle has been mixed.

“This is a little surprising as it performed exceptionally well last year.”