He finished the 355ha (875 acres) of oilseed rape after a good spell of weather at the weekend. He‘s happy because the crop is still marketable with only a little bit of sprouting.

The rape yielded 3.95 t/ha (1.6 t/acre) but Mr Stewart is not happy with the low prices he‘s receiving in return.

He‘s also made a start on his Malacca wheat, which is yielding 9.14 t/ha (3.7 t/acre) but is concerned hagbergs might be low after the wet weather.

With more rain forecast, it could potentially be a big problem he believes.

Mr Stewart has received 160mm of rain so far this month. The same amount as the last 3 months put together.

“The whole thing‘s wet, but we‘re still managing to keep going.”

Mr Stewart‘s two combines worked continuously for 50 hours over the weekend to combine 220ha (550 acres).

“It‘s been very hard work this year – we‘ve been running the drier round the clock by doing shifts because the crops are wetter than usual and its all coming together at once.”

Prices for wheat and oilseed rape are low while prices for diesel are increasing.

“Costs are going up and outputs are going down, which is making things much harder.”