The cereal harvest has been proceeding at a reasonable pace, although, it seems, not at the speed of some farms in the east of the country.

Last month I was concerned about how dry it was. The start of August changed that with 75mm of rain in the first two weeks, leading to fairly stop-go progress.

The rain also meant a return to my favourite farming waste of time: turning straw to get it dry. I suspect every time that straw is spread to dry and then rowed up again I lose about half of what was there down into the stubble.

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It is also a time-consuming and expensive practice, relative to the value of the product. However, I have eventually managed to get all of the straw baled in reasonable condition.

This year demand for straw has been fairly lacklustre for a combination of reasons. There seems to be a significant carryover from last year, alongside the general downturn in confidence in the livestock sector.

Straw sales can represent a significant addition to our crop margins, but I loathe to sell it at below the value of the P and K it represents if returned.

I can see that I may be turning on the chopper in some of the wheat for the first time in a number of years.

With winter barley, oilseed rape and oats harvested at the time of writing, it is probably fair to say that the yields have been both pleasing and above expectation, which will at least go some way towards offsetting the rather unexciting prices at present.

Now it is going to be down to doing the best marketing job possible.

Finally, it’s changeover time again as we say goodbye to Tom, who returns to Harper Adams after completing his placement year with us.

It is fair to say that he was not sure that he knew what he was letting himself in for when he left home up a hill in County Durham for a year in Cornwall.

Now he has found somewhere that is warm all year and even relatively flat as well. Well done, Tom.

Jeremy Oatey manages 1,100ha of arable land near Plymouth in Cornwall and was 2013 Farmers Weekly Arable Farmer of the Year. Cropping includes wheat, barley, OSR, oats, beans, potatoes, onions, swedes and daffodils