Harvest has barely started in Northern Ireland, but yields are unlikely to match last year’s levels, according to Charles Davidson at North Down Grain.

“We don’t have an awful lot of winter barley or oilseed rape in this part of the world, but what barley has been coming in is 2.5t/ha down on last year,” he said.

“Wheat is still at least two weeks away, and spring barley three weeks – it’s very, very late.”

Wheat crops looked reasonable, but not as good as last season, while spring barley did look well, he added.

“It’s probably looking to be the best crop, but a lot of fusarium has come into it over the past two weeks.

“We’ve got another wet week here this week, so will just have to wait and see what happens.”