Large areas of spring barley and wheat are still to be harvested across northern England, Scotland and west Wales, with concerns growing over skinning in malting barley.

There are still a lot of cereal crops to be cut in Yorkshire, Northumberland and Scotland, according to David Neale at Agrii, while other areas are harvesting the last of the bean crops.

“Some farmers in Scotland are done and others are not far in – it just varies on area. Skinning issues are prominent in spring barley in Scotland and are creating a big challenge.”

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Oilseed rape, winter barley and winter wheat have all been generally high yielding this year and produced good grain quality, says Mr Neale.

“Oilseed rape has been good in terms of yield, but has shown that is can be a fragile and high-risk crop.”

Crusoe and Skyfall have performed particularly well, producing good yields and better quality but across wheat crops there has been a loss of Hagbergs after the rains, adds Mr Neale.

Scotland

Across Scotland, the malting barley crops is about 60% cut, says Trevor Harriman director at Scotgrain, Angus, but only about 20% of the wheat has been harvested.

“A good weekend could see those figures shoot up, but there is still a lot of wheat to be cut yet.”

The parameters of skinning levels has been amended to accommodate issues with the spring barley crop, which is suffering more in certain areas than others. There are also some barley crops that are taking a long time to ripen due to the weather.

“Yields have been good for wheat so far and everything looks good, but the straw is still green in places and in general moistures are coming off very high,” says Mr Harriman. “A very good job is being done by farmers in trying circumstances this harvest.”

For Jamie Rogers in Caithness (pictured) harvest only started last Sunday (13 September) and he has cut about 30 acres out of the 300-odd acres. “This time last year, we were on our last field. The weather this year has been that bad.”

Barley has been running better than expected for Eric Haggart at Bailielands Farm, Auchterarder, Perthshire, but there have been specification issues.

“Due to the weather we are having skinning issues which has resulted in some rejections at intake and a complete slow down of movement and uplift from farm,” says Mr Haggart.

“We have Concerto spring barley which has yielded around 6t/ha and we are about 90% through it.”

Mr Haggard is about half way through his 26ha of Leeds wheat, grown for feed or distilling and is hoping to finish cutting over the weekend.

“It has suffered from very uneven ripening and some small parts of the fields are green as leeks, which is hampering normal cutting as well as moisture levels up around 20%,” says Mr Haggart.

“The biggest disappointment is the malting barley issues which have highlight a serious problem within the contracts currently in use, as well as the unsustainable poor prices,” he adds.

Wales

Geoff Thomas at Pantycoch Farm, Letterston, Haverfordwest, is hoping the weather holds so that he can finish combining the last of his spring barley crop.

“I only have a bit of spring barley to finish, but there is an awful lot of combining still to do in the area. I have a neighbour who is hoping to finish harvesting today (Friday) but they have just lost interest in it,” says Mr Thomas.

The winter barley crop was ordinary while oilseed rape and spring barley crops have been good, but Mr Thomas says harvest is getting a bit wearing now as it has dragged out. ”It has been an all right harvest, but certainly not outstanding, and the shed is not as full as it was last year,” he adds.