Robert Craig has finished harvest at Carse Hall, Ballykelly, Co. Londonderry, but the same cannot be said for neighbouring farms, some of which still have up to 25% left.

“Yields ranged from 2.5t/ha in wheat right up to 7.5t/ha in barley, and although we’ve finished there’s still plenty left in the area,” said Mr Craig.

“Because of the bad weather last autumn there is a lot more spring barley in the ground. I think our local contractor with a four wheel drive combine has more work than he ever thought he would have.”

With soggy fields, travelling across land was proving to be a worry, along with the effect it would have on successive crops.

“Some fields aren’t too bad but everywhere is just starting to feel the effects,” said Mr Craig. “Newer machinery is bigger and heavier and proving more difficult.”

Winter barley averaged 8.13t/ha across 48ha, which was pleasing – but wheat was a lot more disappointing.

“Of our 22ha of winter wheat, 10ha of it got waterlogged and yielded 2.5t/ha. Across the whole area, we yielded 85t, which is pretty disappointing.”

However, spring barley proved better, with 60t produced from 8ha – an average of 7.5t/ha.

“If it’s the right field with good drainage crops have been good, but on heavy fields it’s been a tough season.”

Looking ahead to the next crop, Mr Craig had finished most of his ploughing, and had hoped to start drilling yesterday (19 September), but wet weather scuppered his plans.

“We had half an inch of rain the day before yesterday and another half inch is forecast for today,” he said. “We’ve nothing in the ground yet but we’ll hopefully get on next week.”