Meurig Raymond has got one day’s combining left at Trenewydd Fawr, Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, but is waiting for a break in the weather.

“It’s been a frustrating harvest for everybody – the staff have worked so hard, but there’s just no pleasure in the job,” he said.

“We’ve got 9ha of wheat left, in a very wet field, so I’m nervous of taking the combine in there until it’s dried out. There are also 10ha of spring beans which are only just ready.”

On the train to London Mr Raymond passed many fields where combines had tried to get the last of the crops over the weekend. “There are lots of marks where it’s too wet underfoot.”

Wheat had yielded just 6.9t/ha at Trenewydd Fawr, well below the 9.8t/ha average. “The grain is all small and low in bushel weight – the ears just never filled.”

Spring barley hadn’t been too bad, at 6.7t/ha compared to a normal average of 7.4t/ha. “It’s reasonable malting quality but I don’t know whether we’ll take the risk of sending it to a malting home, because the premium isn’t great.”

Winter barley averaged 6.8t/ha, with oilseed rape at just 3t/ha. “The rape was probably the biggest disappointment, because we’ve got 4.4-5t/ha for the past few years,” said Mr Raymond.

“But it had surprisingly good oil contents, at 44-45%.”

Potato harvest was progressing nicely, with 40ha lifted out of 109ha. “Quality is good, but yields are 20% down.”

Although there was still some straw to get off the fields, Mr Raymond had drilled all the oilseed rape. “We just need a few dry days to get finished up.”

Crop: Winter barley
Variety: Maris Otter
Area: 16ha
Yield: 5t/ha

Crop: Winter barley
Variety: Feed
Area: 120ha
Yield: 6.8t/ha

Crop: Oilseed rape
Varieties: Dimension, Rhino and PR46W21
Area: 162ha
Yield: 3t/ha