Matthew Collins started cutting winter barley at Chy-Vellan Farm, Marazion, Cornwall, on Saturday (23 July), but has been unable to combine since.

The Saffron barley yielded well, at over 7.4t/ha (3t/acre) and 14.8% moisture. “We were quite surprised, although it looked lovely all the way through the season,” he said. 

“We’ve been quite lucky in Cornwall; we had just enough rain at the right times to keep the crops going.

“We’ve got another field to do, but it was too wet yesterday, and we had a sea mist this morning, which takes a long time to dry out.

“If we have a good couple of days we’ll be able to get it in, but it’s overcast here so it’s not really drying it out.”

Mr Collins had a lot of spring barley to cut for other farmers, which was still three or four weeks away from ripening.

“I don’t think the spring barley yields will be as high as the winter barley – the straw is pretty short.”

Crop: Winter barley
Variety: Saffron
Area: 8ha (20 acres)
Yield: >7.4t/ha (3t/acre)