Brian Shaw was preparing to start cutting Carat winter barley today (12 July) at his farm in Luton, Bedfordshire. He said the crop was looking ready to be cut and his Pearl winter barley would be ready soon after.

He was pleased to see little lodging within the crop and said it was all looking fairly good at the moment, dependant on the good forecast remaining.

“We’ve been lucky to have had none of the thunderstorms to cause any damage to the crops and everything is still standing in the fields.”

Mr Shaw noticed the crops had looked “a bit stressed” over the past few weeks, but would rather it be too dry than too wet to avoid lodging.

He suggested farmers in his area would start cutting later today and tomorrow now the weather was fine, however, he had not yet seen anyone cutting for about 15 miles from his farm.