Yorkshire contractor Chris Smith said winter barley was not ready to be cut. “The crop is too dry.”

Earlier in the week he struggled to get a moisture reading when combining, despite the minimum being 4%. “When it is that dry it is better to be left in the field.” But since the dry weather did not affect the crop’s growth period, he hoped yields would be unaffected.

Oilseed rape was likely to be ten or eleven days off, but the crop was too dry for Roundup to work. “The sun killed the top third of the crop, which is where the Roundup works, so the crop has not been taking it in.”

Mr Smith said they had a small amount of rain yesterday. “It was not enough to help the crops, only enough to stop combining.”