Floods have devastated wheat fields in Yorks, which Keith Snowball was planning to harvest under contract near Brandsby.

“On one field you can just see the ears of wheat above the water.”

The sheer amount of rain has also affected areas that didn‘t flood. The area has received 4 inches of rain since Sunday night. “It‘s absolutely pouring down.

“I still have some rape to harvest which has fallen over and the oats have completely collapsed under the strain of such large amounts of water.”

“Anything that‘s touching the ground has now sprouted, making life very difficult.”

The rain is hitting wheat quality too.

“Protein levels are going to be down due to the lack of sunshine they‘ve received.”

Also with the rain, hagberg levels are starting to drop, and with low protein content, the wheat may not pass millers specifications.

With alot of crops losing quality in the wet weather and drying costs ever increasing as oil prices continue to soar, this year‘s harvest is proving to be expensive for farmers.

However, his oilseed rape harvest produced pleasing results with yields averaging 3.71 t/ha (1.5 t/acre), which according to Mr Snowball is above his 5 year average.

“It hasn‘t been easy to cut though, because of the bulk going through the combine.”

Mr Snowball has been particularly impressed by Royal and Pollen.