Winter wheat was suffering from lack of water for Charles Martin at Mill House Farm, Hertfordshire. “The wheat has been dying off for three weeks now.”

He said all farms in the area on similar light land shared concerns for lack of moisture in the wheat, expecting yields to be affected. He said the crop will be ahead of last year having ripened too quickly.

Mr Martin expected to start cutting the bulk of oilseed rape today. “We’ve been around the edge of the field three times and got one load so far.”