Worcestershire farmer Andrew Symonds was expecting to cut early spring barley by the end of next week at Lincoms Farm. He was pleased that 65ha of Optic spring barley stood up to the weather storms, with hope of the crop meeting malting spec.

Despite having had five inches of rain in May, the winter wheat was droughted out by the lack of rain in June. Of 65ha, later drilled variety Robigus was slightly cleaner than Einstein, but both had held disease well, he said.

Neighbouring farms had begun harvesting winter barley, but he said generally the lighter ground wheats in the area would have suffered from the drought.

Mr Symonds added: “I’m not specifically hopeful for seeing bumper yields this year.”