Unripe spring rapeseed and wet straw is proving to be a headache for contractor John Moss, who has 10ha remaining to cut near Saltash, Cornwall.

“We finished the bulk of harvest on 9 September but had 28ha of spring rapeseed to cut for a customer,” he said. “We got 18ha done last week but 10ha just wasn’t ripe.”

 Mr Moss had just managed to complete all of his baling, although it had been hard work.

“We sell all of our straw ourselves but getting it dry was a big problem this year. You can dry cereals but not straw – it’s been a nightmare getting it dry enough.”

Despite having harvested more than 1480ha of crops this year, rain was hampering progress today (26 September), with the remaining 10ha requiring a good dry spell before harvest could be completed.

“We’ve never had a harvest like this,” said Mr Moss. “It’s been a long old haul and we need a few dry days until we can complete this last little bit.”

However, he had managed to complete sowing all his rapeseed, and was well underway with wheat.

“We’ve got about 80ha of wheat in so far,” he said. “It seems a bit early but you never know what’s around the corner.”