Many farmers are finishing combining winter wheat in the South East, with low bushel weights still posing a tremendous problem.

“It’s a very mixed picture – by and large most of the milling wheat is okay,” said Charles Roberts, grain marketing director at GH Grain.

“It ranges from 65kg/hl to 80kg/hl, but we should be able to do something with a lot of it, as quite a lot is over 72kg/hl.”

Soft wheats were not brilliant, but many should scrape through with a bit of help, he added.

“It’s the out and out feed varieties that are the real problem, at 65-70kg/hl.”

Yields ranged from 5t to 12t/ha. “There doesn’t seem to be any pattern or reason behind it – although I don’t think with the milling wheat it’s varietal; it’s more down to agronomy.”

Mycotoxin levels were low, with the highest DON at just 200, said Mr Roberts. “Hagberg numbers are fine, with less than 5% below 250 seconds.”

Many people would finish combining wheat in the next few days, although with rain forecast over the weekend it could delay harvest slightly, he added.

“Ground conditions are fine, and people are cracking on drilling oilseed rape. We’ve been luckier than a lot of other areas.”

Spring barley had come off reasonably well, with low nitrogen contents and no problems with skinning.

“We’ve also seen some reasonable yields from oats, but bushel weights are down, at about 45kg/hl.”