It has been a record-breaking harvest – unfortunately not in yield terms. Rather, combines have been clearing fields across the UK weeks ahead of usual timings.

The prolonged dry weather and summer heatwave have ripened crops, bringing them to harvest earlier.

We hear from a host of farmers who have taken to social media platform X to share their experiences, including one farmer who describes his early spring barley harvest as “utterly awful”.

See also: Farmer Focus: No chance to rest before harvest

Early wheat

It’s been the earliest ever start to wheat harvest for Bedfordshire farmer Charles Paynter, who started cutting winter wheat on 16 July.

Charles notes that the farm has never cut wheat this early, not even in the dry year of 1976.

Crops were drilled in early October on heavy land and are coming in at a moisture content of 14.9%.

Another record broken. We have never combined winter wheat as early as the 16th July- not even 1976. Heavy land. October sown. 14.9% MC pic.twitter.com/Ebg2hFrG0c

— Charles Paynter (@charlespaynter) July 16, 2025

It’s a similar story for Fenland farmer Mike Neaverson, who farms across south Lincolnshire and north Cambridgeshire.

Wheat harvest began on 14 July, beating his previous earliest harvest in 2022 by five days.

Wheat on the 14th July beats our previous earliest start (2022) by a whopping 5 days. And 2022 beat the previous record (2018) by over a week. pic.twitter.com/QPjI63eMBI

— Mike Neaverson (@MikeNeaverson) July 14, 2025

Awful spring barley

Spring barley crops are already being cut in Herefordshire, with Ally Hunter Blair describing this year’s crop as “utterly, utterly awful”.

He started cutting on 14 July, with yields coming in at 4t/ha.

“We would budget on a yield of 5t/ha but expect to be closer to 7t/ha.

“We will have made a significant loss on the crop at 4t/ha, if it doesn’t make the malting premium,” he says.

Ally has been cutting the crop early in the morning, with moisture coming in at 13%, but by midday he has been forced to stop as moisture levels dropped to 11.2%.

Utterly utterly awful. Spring Barley ~4t/ha.
Started at 13% this morning, stopped now at 11.2%. pic.twitter.com/vyB3reayiF

— Ally Hunter Blair (@Wyefarm) July 14, 2025

Further north

In Northumberland, fields of winter barley were being cut as early as 9 July.

That was a record for Matthew Curry, managing director at North East Grains.

Earliest Harvest on Record, 9th July. pic.twitter.com/tiE0izS6o0

— Matthew Curry (@CurryMatty) July 11, 2025

In the Scottish borders, Neil White kickstarted his winter barley, breaking his previous record by a good few days.

Yields are proving variable, with initial figure coming in just below the farm’s five-year average, with some of the driest grain he has ever cut.

We are off. Earliest start ever by a few days. #harvest25 started on a perfect harvest day with some of the driest grain i have cut. Yields are very variable but maybe just below average so far. @NFUStweets @CLAAS_UK @mydirectdriller @SimpsonsMalt #barley #beer pic.twitter.com/7g60RYOdkj

— Everything Is Greenknowe (@GreenknoweFarm) July 12, 2025

It was also perfect harvest conditions and an early start on 9 July for Irish farmer Joe Deverell, who began cutting the six-row winter barley Joyou.

Started the harvest today, cutting Joyou barley in perfect conditions. 17% moisture and the earliest start 9th July we have had I think. First time we had a six row, sown on 14th October , seems a good crop, weighbridge will tell the story. 22°C temp today, lovely.🌞 pic.twitter.com/0JxTmRPpEg

— Joe Deverell (@Joedev1956) July 9, 2025