Contractor Chris Smith is waiting for a dry break in the weather near Easingwold, Yorkshire, so he can combine the final 30ha of April-sown winter wheat.

“It’s ready and ripe, but it just keeps raining,” he said. “We do need the moisture, but it’s been too wet to drill wheat today (17 September), let alone combine.”

Harvest had been extremely variable, but overall, wheat and winter barley had yielded about average, with spring barley and oilseed rape exceeding expectations, said Mr Smith.

“Surprisingly, the April-drilled winter wheat has done nearly as well as you’d expect from crops drilled at the proper time – many have done around 7.4t/ha and quality has been excellent.”

Spring barley had yielded about 6.2t/ha, and produced a tremendous amount of straw, he added.

“And we’ve just started lifting potatoes into store today – although we’ve only done the headlands so far they seem to be alright.”