Robert Willy says his wheat harvest has so far been variable, but “better than I thought” on his farm near Basildon, Essex.

He doesn‘t know exact yields but thinks they are just below 10 t/ha (4.05 t/acre) and that he’s got roughly 1,000 tonnes in the barn.

However, Mr Willy has had some troubles in his wheat crop.

Storms a month ago flattened parts of the crop, while in other areas parts of his Xi-19 have become infested by orange blossom midge.

He predicts that 15-20% has been infested in some fields.

But his Robigus hasn’t nearly suffered as badly as the Xi-19 did. “People who grew orange blossom midge resistant varieties will now be very happy.”

Mr Willy said he had applied the appropriate sprays saying “the timing must have been wrong or it simply didn’t work”.

The oilseed rape harvest failed on Mr Willy’s farm and he’s just hoping his wheat has different fortunes.

“As the oilseed rape harvest went so badly this year we need to have a good wheat harvest to compensate.”

Mr Willy described his Winner oilseed rape as “a complete disaster and total mess”.

About 240 ha (600 acres) was ripped up while the remaining 140 ha (350 acres) did under a tonne an acre in yield.

The ripped up rape was re-drilled with beans that “now look dreadful as they also went down in the storms”.