Alistair Home-Roberts is drilling today (11 September) at Berwick Grove Farm, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, with just spring wheat and beans left to cut.

“We’ve finished drilling oilseed rape and started on the wheat last night – we’re getting on alright,” he said.

Yields had been extremely variable, with first wheat on good ground after potatoes and oilseed rape yielding up to 9.1t/ha; while second wheats on poorer ground were down below 7.4t/ha.

“We had 100ha of Grafton, 120ha of Duxford and 200ha of Santiago. The Grafton was the best and Santiago was most disappointing – it’s an expensive variety to grow and the bushel weight was in the mid 70s against Grafton at 80kg/hl.”

Expower and Compass oilseed rape ranged from 3t/ha to 4.4t/ha. “The Expower was probably slightly better than the Compass, but this year it’s really been down to soil type and field conditions,” said Mr Home-Roberts.

Spring wheat looked like it would yield upwards of 7.4t/ha, but beans were harder to judge, he added.

“Everyone has finished winter wheat, spring barley and winter rape in the area; there is just spring wheat, beans and oilseed rape left.

“We are all flat out drilling now – we’ve got 146ha of rapeseed in the ground and 100ha of that is up and away; it looks really well.”

Crop: Winter wheat
Varieties: Grafton, Santiago and Duxford
Area: 420ha
Yield: <7.4-9.1t/ha

Crop: Oilseed rape
Varieties: Expower and Compass
Area: 120ha
Yield: av. 3.3t/ha