Rain has stopped play at Prior Farm, Wrentham, Norfolk, where Roger Middleditch has been loading up straw.

“It’s had 7mm on rain on it, and the ram broke on the baler so there’s 4ha (10 acres) still lying out in the field.”

However, the rain shouldn’t do any harm to standing crops, he said. “It’s not going to worry them too much – but it would be nice to get this harvest over and done with, so we can move onto planting the next one.”

So far the wheat had been very mixed, even on the best ground. “Where we’ve been able to irrigate it’s done well, at 10t/ha (4t/acre), but where we couldn’t irrigate it been 6.2-7.4t/ha (2.5-3t/acre).”

The Solstice would probably average 7.4-8.6t/ha (3-3.5t/acre), and had a decent bushelweight of 83kg/hl. “It looks full of protein as well.”

Invicta, which had also been irrigated, had come in well at 10t/ha (4t/acre).

“But it’s on the best land, so we’ve got some wheat that won’t do anything like as well as that.

“Some of the feed wheat will probably only make 2.5t/ha (1t/acre).”

Oilseed rape had been pleasantly surprising, with Astrid yielding 4.4-5t/ha (1.8-2t/acre). “Oil contents are pretty high as well, at 46%.”

Cabernet and Cubic had done similarly well, but Castille would be dropped next year, said Mr Middleditch.

“I think the spring barley will be a disaster; with the exception of vining peas anything that went in in the spring is not very clever.”

Crop: Winter wheat
Variety: Solstice
Area: 80ha (200 acres)
Yield: 7.4-8.6t/ha (3-3.5t/acre)

Variety: Invicta
Area: 18ha (45 acres)
Yield: 10t/ha (4t/acre)

Crop: Oilseed rape
Varieties: Astrid, Cabernet and Cubic
Yield: 4.4-5t/ha (1.8-2t/acre)