Spring barley quality in North East Scotland is starting to suffer, following prolonged wet weather.

Trevor Harriman at Scotgrain said the wet end to last week meant few farmers were able to get combining over the weekend (25/26 September).

“Whatever was cut was well into the 20% moisture band. You have to sympathise with growers who’ve got grain to get in, as what looked like a good harvest is now going to cost a lot of money.”

In Angus and the Borders most farmers had finished harvest. “But across the Moray coast, Inverness and the Black Isle there is still spring barley, wheat and spring oats to be cut.

“Certain areas of Aberdeenshire have been finished for four weeks, while others are still struggling on.”

About half the spring barley cut over the weekend was still of reasonable malting quality, said Mr Harriman. “Some has started to go, though – you have to test each sample on its own merits.”

On average, farmers still had about 10-15% of winter wheat and less than 10% of spring barley to cut, he added.

“The forecast for this week is not that clever – and the rains will have delayed drilling in certain areas as well – there’s plenty still to do.”