We haven’t started harvest yet. It has been a much slower start here in Norfolk than in the past few years.

We will be starting with oilseed rape on this occasion. Winter barley will follow as the Maris Otter straw is hanging on longer than I’d like.

These two crops only amount to 20% of our combinable area. This is much lower than it would have been traditionally, and is a trend common with many arable businesses in the East.

See also: Harvest 2024: Suffolk grower dodges showers to combine OSR two weeks early

About the author

Robert Scott

Robert Scott farms 1,450ha of arable in mid-west Norfolk for seven different landowners. He grows combinable crops and sugar beet together with cover crops, grass leys and extensive countryside stewardship schemes. He also finishes 2,000 lambs a year. robert@thscottandson.co.uk Instagram: @thscottandson

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Rotations are becoming heavily biased towards wheat and spring barley, simply because of their gross margin performance and low growing risk.

The lack of hot weather is making the later crops slow to ripen. This all means our harvest will be condensed into just a few frantic weeks in August and early September. As the days shorten, combine capacity will be more important than ever.  

We intend to bale as much straw as possible this year. Historically, I have chopped our wheat straw in favour of returning it to the soil.

In Norfolk, straw seems to be in high demand and the appeal of saving some diesel and horsepower from not chopping is high.

Straw yields are likely to be good with full crops, and getting this biomass baled and off farm will make cover crop establishment much easier and effective, reducing slug habitat and drill hair pinning.

Our haylage harvest has been a drawn-out affair so far, due to a wet June and early July.

We grow about 200ha of ryegrass for sale under the family’s EH Haylage brand (available in all good pet stores in the east of England). 

Grass has been a bumper crop this season. This means anyone with a few acres, a tedder and access to Facebook Marketplace has made some hay for a second year in a row.

This will result in a saturated market and downward price pressure. We have ample stock and will, therefore, not be doing a second cut.  

The upshot of no second cut is that my father Hugh and his much-prized lorry will, hopefully, be available to help me and our arable operation cart grain and straw back to the yards in August. Every cloud has a silver lining.