Harvest has gone better than expected  for James Walby at East House Farm, Ponteland, Northumberland, with combining finished and land work well ahead.

“We’ve finished cutting cereals, and although yields are down by about one third land work is well underway,” he said.

Despite earlier concerns about wet weather, combining had progressed well, with moisture contents no higher than 20%, and down as far as 14% over the 400ha of wheat grown.

“We’ve had a lot of Claire and it seems to have done alright,” said Mr Walby. “Quality is average but it could have been worse.”

Bushel weights sat at around 70kg/hl for all wheat varieties, with some crops saved for seed.

“We grew quite a bit of the rapeseed that has gone back in the ground, and have managed to drill all 220ha.”

Mr Walby had also drilled 160ha of winter barley and close to 200ha of winter wheat, too.

“We’re getting on pretty well with cultivations and we probably only have 10 days left. The crop is getting away well.

“We even managed to min-till some seed where it’s not been too wet, although we’ve ploughed some areas.”

Although wet weather slowed the combine down earlier in the season,  dry weather was hampering progress now.

“We could do with a bit of rain. Slugs have stayed away now it’s dried out, but a little bit of rain would do the crop some good.”