AT BAINTON Arable Farming, on the N Yorks wolds, Pearl winter barley for malting gave former Farmers Weekly milling wheat grower of the year Nick Baker 8.6t/ha (3.5t/acre) as measured by the combine yield meter.

“That’s slightly up on normal,” he said.

“We used to grow around 150 acres, but we’re down to about 50 because the malting contracts really aren’t good enough.”

Despite the good yield the crop’s nitrogen content was rather higher than he had hoped.

“It 1.75-1.76, which means we’ll miss out on the extra £4/t and get only a £10/t premium. But the bushel weight and screenings were good.”

On the plus side too the 15.5% moisture crop did not need drying.

“With diesel at 34p/litre it’s certainly not worth drying if they’ll take it at that. And it’s given us a considerable amount of straw which we’ll store and which should make a good price later on.”