Travelling is still difficult on land in East Yorkshire, but contractor Keith Snowball was on combining today (17 September).

“The combines are making a hell of a mess, but we’re getting through it,” he said.

He had 182ha (450 acres) of wheat to cut with three combines, and would soon also be into beans.

Most crops were still standing, but some varieties were badly sprouted, including Istabraq, Claire and Oakley.

Others, like Solstice, Humber and Zebedee had held up better, and Mr Snowball cut a field of Einstein yesterday which produced a perfect looking sample, he said.

“I think the yields are beyond peoples’ wildest dreams considering the rainfall and lack of sunshine. We’ve had quite a lot of 4t/ac crops, which is 1t/ac more than last year.”

He reckoned there was still 30% of the wheat to cut in the surrounding area.

Crop: Winter wheat
Variety: Solstice
Area: 26ha (64 acres)
Yield: >8.6t/ha (3.5t/acre)

Crop: Winter oats
Variety: Dalguise
Area: 28ha (68 acres)
Yield: >8.2t/ha (3.3t/acre)

Crop: Winter barley
Varieties: Pearl and Carat
Yield: 6.7t/ha (2.7t/acre)

Crop: Oilseed rape
Variety: Catana
Yield: 3.7t/ha (1.5t/acre)

Variety: Grace
Yield: 2-3.5t/ha (0.8-1.4t/acre)