Five percent of spring barley remains to be cut in the south, said Robin Appel’s Jonathan Arnold. He said yields are generally good, with higher nitrogen than the past few years, due to cold weather in late spring.

But results differed significantly between varieties, he said. Cocktail was generally disappointing, with Optic proving more reliable.

Westminster and Cellar performed well, but since Cellar is an earlier maturing variety, quality was caught slightly by rain, he said. “It was a timing issue with Cellar, not a problem with the variety itself.”

Mr Arnold said growers are relatively happy and harvest progress is slightly ahead of last year.