Winter barley harvest is only about 40-50% through in Co.Down, Northern Ireland, with wet weather delaying combines over the past week.

“There’s been a lot of rain this week; if it had been dry I’d have expected the winter barley to be almost finished,” said Philip Davidson, director of North Down Grain.

Yields had been affected by the dry spring, but were better than expected at about 7.4-8t/ha (3-3.25t/acre).

“We’d like to get 8.6t/ha (3.5t/acre) but considering how dry it was, 7.4t/ha (3t/acre) is pretty good.”

With very little oilseed rape in the area, farmers would be moving into winter wheat and spring barley after the winter barley, said Mr Davidson.

“They are still two or three weeks away, and the wheat looks pretty good.

“The early sown spring barley looks good, but later sown crops don’t look so great, because it was so dry.”