Video: Earliest ever barley harvest for Merseyside grower

Merseyside arable farmer and YouTube personality Olly Harrison has kicked off his earliest ever barley harvest, starting on Thursday 26 June – a day ahead of his previous record set in 2022.

Mr Harrison said the 8ha field of winter barley on sandy land, near the River Mersey, will likely be the “worst field he cuts this year”.

But the move was necessary both to shake down his combine and salvage what grain remained, he added.

See also: Timing crucial for desiccating OSR crops this harvest

“The drought just killed it,” he said. “It was pretty bad anyway. It never responded to the fertiliser – it was so dry, thin, and only grew to about 8in tall.

“But I have got our barley, which is twice as high and twice as thick, and did not give up on pure sand in the spring.”

He added: “If we’d have had a wet spring, we’d have ripped it up and replaced it with spring barley, but it just struggled all year, really, and it was weedy.

“We just stopped spending any more money on it.”

The barley, which came off the field at about 16% moisture and will be dried, was not malting grade and will be sold for feed.

“We’ll pile it until the rest of the barley comes in and sell it in bulk,” Mr Harrison explained.

“It’s not much, but the straw might help cover the loss – straw’s short and prices are high. We expect to fetch about £120/t.”

Despite the poor yield from this field – only about 2.5t/ha – Mr Harrison is cautiously optimistic about the rest of the season.

“A month ago, it looked dire,” he said. “But the rain came just in time for the winter crops to fill their heads.

“The spring crops won’t be full yield, but the grain quality might still be decent.”

The early cut also served to ensure his Claas Lexion 8700 combine – the same one which was used in the Charity Combine Challenge for mental health charities two years ago – was ready for the main harvest.

“No niggles at all yesterday, which is rare on the first run,” he said.

While this was an isolated early start, Mr Harrison believes others in the area will follow in the coming days.

“I don’t know anyone else cutting barley round here yet,” he added. “But harvest is definitely under way.”

Regional outlook

Edward Vipond, farm manager at Troston Farms, in Suffolk, told Farmers Weekly there were reports that some growers had also started cutting their winter barley crops in East Anglia.

However, with further dry weather forecast, he expects to start his own barley harvest early next week.

“It’s a good two weeks earlier than it should be, which is purely down to the drought,” he said.

“So far this year, we have had 130mm of rain. With a 20-year average of 640mm we have got some catching up to do.

“I just hope it doesn’t start catching up with us the week we get the combine out.”

In south-east Cornwall, mixed farmer Rob Halliday said his winter barley crops look in good condition, but harvest may still be a fortnight away.

“The crop looks good,” he said. “Most people missed the rain, but we have been fortunate.

“It’s going to be a decent straw and grain yield down here. It’s looks promising.”

Farm fire

Meanwhile, fire crews were called out on Thursday to tackle a large crop fire in North Wheatley, North Yorkshire. Crews managed to create a fire break to stop the fire spreading to adjacent fields.

Email your Harvest 2025 photos, videos and stories to philip.case@markallengroup.com or upload them to our harvest gallery.