Farmers in Aberdeenshire have made slow progress over the past week, with 15% of spring barley and 70% of wheat still to cut.

Harvest was now about two weeks behind last year, according to Bruce Ferguson at Aberdeen Grain.

“We haven’t had a huge amount of success with the weather – the growers have just been snatching what they can, at very high moisture contents.

“It has been so dark and miserable, it feels like November.”

The crops were still standing, and quality had held up remarkably well, he said. “But we’ve got an East Coast drizzle today, which is not great.

“Some of the barley will have been put in very late, which could save it, but quite a lot will now have to go as feed.

“However, I think the wheat quality will hold up alright in the short term.”

Both wheat and barley yields had been good, added Mr Ferguson. “We just need to string a couple of decent days together, to get at it – most farmers have got the capacity.”

Further South, farmers were making reasonable progress with potato harvest and fieldwork. “But you couldn’t harvest potatoes in Aberdeenshire.”