Farmers in Aberdeenshire still have 95% of their wheat and 30% of their spring barley left to cut, according to Bruce Ferguson at Aberdeen Grain.

“Harvest is almost complete in the Borders, Tayside, Morayshire, and the Black Isle.

“There are bits and pieces to do in Perthshire, but in Aberdeenshire farmers are really struggling.”

Some spring barley was not quite ripe two weeks ago when the weather was fine.

But since then farmers in the area had been hit by the worst of the weather, and had hardly been able to make any progress at all.

“It is certainly ready now – but quality has held up remarkably well so far,” said Mr Ferguson. “Spring barley cut over the weekend at quite high moisture has tested fine.

“Providing we can get to it we’ll be okay, but the weather is forecast to be very catchy this week.”

Crops which were late to ripen would probably hold up until the weekend, he said. “After that they will start to struggle.”

Wheat, however, was still fine, and standing well. “There’s been very little evidence on lodging.”

Yields and quality had been good so far, he added

“It’s not a disaster; providing we can get the crop cut in the near term.”