N IRELAND

1 August 1997

N IRELAND

COMBINES which had just started harvest laid idle across the province in the latter half of last week as rain set in.

"It hasnt stopped raining," says barometer grower Charles Davidson. "Barley heads are starting to go down through the crop. Its a very gloomy picture, and there are a lot of quality fears."

Richard Lyness cut 4.45ha (11 acres) of Pastoral before the weather broke. The crop came off at about 17% moisture and yielded 6.9t/ha (2.8t/acre) over a weighbridge.

"Thats not as good as last year, when we did over 3t/acre. Other people have found lower yields too. But quality was excellent and we baled 1700 small bales of good straw."n