Yorkshire farmer Andrew Coster expected to start cutting winter barley later today (July 17) in Ripon.  He said 56ha of Colossus and Pearl were looking alright, however they were suffering from “a lot of secondary growth” in the tramlines. He said this could possibly be due to the season, but he was unsure.

He was not trying to meet malting quality, and expected to sell the crop after it had been harvested.

Mr Coster said: “We’ve been the last people to be affected by the drought. We have good moisture-retaining soil so the crops are surviving well.”

Robigus and Einstein winter wheat he said were just starting to go off in the heat, but the crop was still on course to be ready in a few weeks. However, he said harvest was not going to be as good as last year, with less straw and the grain had not filled as well.

He added: “Harvest has started in the area but we’re on heavier soil so we seem to be on track at the moment.”