Yorkshire wheat harvest to start early

Catherine Thompson said winter wheat had looked promising a few weeks ago, but was now likely to be “very much earlier than usual” at Holme House, Yorkshire. Wheat on heavier land looked more promising than the lighter ground, probably because it was drilled six weeks earlier.

“We can’t tell if the bright light intensity or the drought would affect the yields more.”

She expected to begin combining wheat within the next two weeks.

Carat winter barley had been good on lighter to medium land, but had suffered on the heavier land due to the very wet spring followed by the drought. The crops were all in a floor-store, but she said quality was fine for feed barley. Bushel weight was fine but not as high as last year.

Mrs Thompson added: “We’ve had very little rain apart from a little storm three weeks ago. We’re just flat out irrigating potatoes at the moment.”