Harvest had been variable for Robert Naylor in Stamford, Lincolnshire, having suffered from the hot weather in July.

Yields of Malacca milling wheat were disappointing, and he said they were likely to have been more than 1t/ha down on average. By comparison, Einstein and Brompton feed wheats were more pleasing.

“I haven’t totalled the yields but I hope they will be around average. The quality should be OK as we finished a week ago (August 11) before the rain, but we still had two and a half inches yesterday.”

Wheat had yet to be sold. “We sold half the oilseed rape, but that was just to pay the bills! We’ll see how the market goes before we sell the rest.”
 
Next year Mr Naylor planned to grow the same area of oilseed rape, but planned on increasing the area of Einstein winter wheat. “We will not be growing Malacca any more – it let us down yield-wise and the ₤7-8/t premium is not enough to make it worth growing.”