Richard Stephen had just made a start on his wheat at Muirton of Barra, Oldmeldrum, Aberdeenshire, and early indications looked good. “It’s only just ready,” he said.

Although there was a lot of spring barley yet to cut in the area, he had finished all of his, and yields were above average at 6.8t/ha (2.75t/acre).

Winter barley – a mixture of Pearl and Sequel – yielded about average at 8.6t/ha (3.5t/acre), while rape was below average at 4t/ha (1.6t/acre).

Mr Stephen had sown all of his rape, having escaped with showers rather than torrential rain, and ground conditions were good.

“The rape acreage is up quite a bit,” he reckoned.

Crop: Spring barley
Variety: Oxbridge
Area: 80ha (200 acres)
Yield: 8.6t/ha (3.5t/acre)

Cocktail: 7.3 t/ha (3t/acre)
Quench: 7.6 t/ha (3.1t/acre)
Optic: 6.8 t/ha (2.7t/acre)
Publican: 7.3 t/ha (3t/acre)
Waggon: 7.8 t/ha (3.2t/acre)

Crop: Winter barley
Varieties: Sequel and Pearl
Area: 73ha (180 acres)
Yield: 8.6t/ha (3.5t/acre)

Crop: Oilseed rape
Varieties: Catana and Bravour
Area: 20ha (50 acres)
Yield: 4t/ha (1.6t/acre)