Scottish harvest on course for early finish despite rain

Despite the more unsettled weather seen in recent days, Scottish growers are on course for one of the earliest finishes to harvest, according to the latest AHDB progress report.

While harvest is complete in many parts of England, the third report estimates that in Scotland, nearly half of the spring barley, two-thirds of wheat and approaching 70% of oats are still to cut. However, progress is ahead of average for this time of the year.

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Spring barley

The UK spring barley harvest reached 80% by 24 August, up from 54% complete a fortnight earlier.

The largest areas remaining to be harvested are in Scotland, north-east England and Northern Ireland. By 24 August, an estimated 54% of Scottish spring barley had been harvested.

This is the fastest progress since 2022 when 56% of the Scottish crop was cut by this stage in August.

Yields have been very variable ranging from 2.2t/ha to 7.4t/ha. An average yield is reported so far of 4.64t/ha across the sample surveyed, which is well down (-19%) on the UK five-year average.

Spring barley quality is also highly variable, making it difficult to present an average picture.

Specific weights are reported to be between 56kg/hl and 63kg/hl, screenings retained by a 2.25mm sieve of between 65% and 95%, and grain nitrogen levels at 1.2-2.3%.

Wheat

Moving to wheat, the report estimates the UK harvest to be 94% complete as of 24 August, up from 85% a fortnight ago. 

While progress has slowed, it is still ahead of the same time in August last year, when 92% had been harvested. It is also the most advanced harvest since 2022 (98% complete by week seven).

Small areas remain in Yorkshire, but most is in the North East, Scotland and Northern Ireland. 

The Scottish crop has advanced from 5% complete by 10 August to 34% complete by 24 August, with just under two-thirds of the area remaining.

For crops harvested to date, the average winter wheat yield in this survey is 6.8t/ha, 12% below the national five-year average.

Nonetheless, yield performance has been highly variable between farms, ranging from 3.9t/ha to 11.5t/ha. More importantly, only a small proportion of farms have achieved near-average or above-average results. 

Quality has been good, with specific weights ranging from 76kg/hl to 85kg/hl for Group 1 milling wheats. Protein content is also high, with samples as high as 15.6% reported. 

Oats

© Tim Scrivener

Nationally, the oat harvest was 89% complete by 24 August, up from 80% complete a fortnight earlier. 

However, while progress has slowed of late, it is still ahead of average for this point in the harvest window. Current progress is comparable to week seven last year.

Harvesting is now complete across England and Wales, but there has been minimal progress in Scotland, where it is reported to be 32% complete.

The average oat yield for the farms in this survey is 4.4t/ha, 17% below the five-year average.

However, AHDB points out that with just over two-thirds of the Scottish crop area left to be cut, this may change.