Richard Kane has not been able to combine for the past 10 days at Brosglasgow House, Myroe, Londonderry.

He had 20ha (50 acres) of wheat to finish and was yet to make a start on his 57ha (140 acres) of spring barley.

“It’s starting to sprout now,” he said. “But it’s all still standing. If we could get just three dry days in a row we’d get it finished.”

The wheat cut so far had yielded below average, at 8.6t/ha (3.5t/acre), while the oats had done well at 7.4t/ha (3t/acre).

However, the 60t of oats and 20t of wheat grown for seed had both failed the germination test, said Mr Kane.

He reckoned farmers still had about 30% of the harvest to gather in the area.

Crop: Winter wheat
Variety: Istabraq
Area: 113ha (280 acres)
Yield: 8.6t/ha (3.5t/acre)
 
Crop: Winter oats
Variety: Gerald
Area: 8ha (20 acres)
Yield: 7.4t/ha (3t/acre)

Crop: Winter barley
Variety: Retriever
Area: 32ha (80 acres)
Yield: >7.4t/ha (3t/acre)

Crop: Oilseed rape
Variety: Excalibur
Area: 32ha (80 acres)
Yield: <4.9t/ha (2t/acre)