The combines are close to being put back in the shed as the end of harvest draws near, with growers mainly clearing up remaining crops of spring barley.

We caught up with farmers in England and Scotland to see how their wheat, barley and oilseed rape harvests are turning out.

See also: How to choose the best winter wheat variety for sustainability

Kent

Wheat harvest finished on 10 August at David Clark Farms, near Lenham in Kent. The 220ha of Astronomer, Bassett and Barrel had specific weights of 78-81kg/hl and proteins up to 12%, said Jamie Clark.

“Wheat yield is not huge, but reasonable considering the low rainfall,” he said. “Early-drilled Astronomer did 9t/ha and late-drilled Skyfall, 7-8t/ha – low for us.

“Hagbergs were 250-plus with nothing over 300, which seems extraordinary considering there has been no rain.”

Still to be harvested is 60ha of Skyfall, re-drilled in January and early February. “It is very short. If it does 7t/ha I’ll be very surprised. I think it will be more like 5.5-6t/ha,” Mr Clark said.

Craft winter barley failed to make malting specification despite receiving only 120kg/ha of nitrogen.

However, oilseed rape performed better, with the varieties Matrix and Constructor yielding 3.5t/ha with 47-48% oil. “I’m reasonably happy. Although it didn’t establish well, we didn’t lose any,” he said.

Worcestershire

Just finishing wheat harvest on 10 August, Andrew Symonds of Lincoms Farm, Hartlebury, Worcestershire, said the crop, comprising Gleam and Siskin, averaged 10t/ha.

“It did well. For a medium sandy loam it was surprisingly pleasing. Specific weight was 78kg/hl and moisture ranged from 11.5-13%,” he said.

Mr Symonds said this had been an early finish for wheat. He started the rest of his spring barley on 12 August which he hopes to have wrapped up early in the coming week.

“We have already harvested 10ha of Laureate which was 1.4% nitrogen, averaging 7t/ha. We’ll follow with Planet,” he said.

The barley is destined for brewer Molson Coors, which also took 35ha of winter barley malting variety Craft harvested in early July. “It yielded quite well at 8t/ha. Nitrogen was 1.75%,” he said.

Brewster Farms’ harvest in Staffordshire – photo submitted to our Harvest 2022 gallery by Mary Perry

North Yorkshire

Christine Thompson of Holme House, Holme, on Spalding Moor near York, was finishing Planet spring barley, her last crop to harvest on 10 August.

“It looks good,” she said. “I’m not sure what our final yield will be yet. It’s very early; we usually finish around 5 September.”

Wheat harvest began in late July, with Gleam, Graham and Skyfall.

“It averaged 7.5t/ha on sand land where we grew Graham, and 10t/ha on heavier land where we grew Gleam as a second wheat and a small amount of Skyfall first wheat, which did the best.

“Moisture was no problem – it was below 15% for most of the time.”

Oilseed rape yielded 3.7t/ha, comprising Campus and Plurax, with moisture at about 7.5-8%.

The two-row winter feed barley Hawking yielded 8t/ha, and Ms Thompson said she was happy with that as it performed well.

However, she does not plan to grow it next season as there are better varieties out there now.

Scotland

With 50ha of spring barley remaining to be harvested, Nick Davidson, who farms at Clola Farms, near Peterhead in Aberdeenshire, said this could be a record-breaking early harvest. “In 2003 we finished on 16 August and this one could certainly be up there,” he said.

Spring barley has ripened slightly unevenly but he hopes to get it finished in the next few days.

“It is all Laureate for malting. We’ve cut the first few loads and moisture is 14-16%. Quality is looking good,” he said.

Harvest began on 20 July with Kingsbarn winter barley, which did well and came off between 14.5-16% moisture, yielding 10t/ha.

He has not had it tested for specific weight, but believes it will be at least 65kg/hl.

Next was 35ha of oilseed rape. He grows Platinum, a clubroot-resistant variety which did pretty well at 4.4-4.6t/ha and moisture at 7.2%.

He said if he had left it any longer it would have been too dry. The crop was finished on 10 August.

However, he has concerns about when to drill next season’s crop of oilseed rape because of the continuing dry weather. “We hope to be able to get it in the next week or so,” he said.