Harvest is almost complete in Scotland, with the north of England all but put to bed. Dry conditions have persisted, which could give the window they need to finish by September – extraordinarily early for northern growers. 

Scotland 

It’s certainly been a favourable year for two farmers in Aberdeenshire. 

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Scott Campbell at Kirkton Farm, Kinellar says if the weather stays then harvest could be complete by the end of August. “It’s a one-year-in-10 scenario.” 

Combines started in late July on 20ha of Dalguise winter oats – yields were impressive at 9.5t/ha, some 0.5t/ha above his average.

Following on was 50ha of hybrid oilseed rape varieties – Alasco and Anarion – yielding above the five-year average at 3.95t/ha to 4.9t/ha, with moisture low at 8-10%. 

The spring barley hasn’t performed as well, but is still pleasing, he says. “On the lighter land parts of the crop burnt up, leading to some high nitrogen levels,” he explains.

“Barley on the heavier land did much better and we have been able to mix it to bring the nitrogen below the 1.6% limit.” 

Claas cutting Laureate © Claire Rhind

Acreage comprises 50ha each to Laureate and Diablo, with 110ha of Sassy – all for malting – the best yields coming from the latter at 7.2t/ha at 1.2N. Moisture ranged between 14% and 16%. 

His 80ha of winter wheat Skyscraper is slightly back on the three-year average at 9.4t/ha, but it has made specification, with specific weight averaging 81kg/hl. “Moisture has been around 14% which is unbelievable – there’s 36ha left to combine.” 

For Sandy Norrie at Duncan Farms in Turriff it’s been a record-breaking year for the arable enterprise and its 2,630ha of combinable crops. 

Noteworthy from the winter barley harvest is the two-row variety Tardis; yielding 11.6t/ha at 70kg/hl. “It’s been outstanding,” he says. “My one regret is growing only 81ha.”  

As for his 478ha of oilseed rape, varieties Aurelia and Crome have exceeded the five-year average by 0.6t/ha at 5.6t/ha. “It’s looked well from start to finish, a record breaker for us,” he says. “We cut as low as 6.9% moisture with nothing going past 13% – we’re expecting to see oil content around 46%.” 

Winter wheat was ripe before the spring barley, he reports. “We’ve not finished combining the wheat – but as we speak it’s looking like another record breaker, with yields averaging 12.6t/ha.” The standout variety for Mr Norrie is soft Group 4, Colosseum, yielding 13.1t/ha.  

Highs have also been seen in his 340ha of Laureate spring malting barley, averaging 8t/ha, but up to 9.4t/ha in low-lying river fields. Specific weight hit 70kg/hl, with nitrogen pleasingly low at 1.3 to 1.4%.  

His winter oats are averaging 8t/ha at 58kg/hl.  

Northumberland 

Combine near Hexham © Derek Bell

Carl Tuer, manager at Rock Estates, Alnwick has finished harvest three weeks ahead of usual. “We finished on 21 August. Normally we’re rarely done by 10 September – it’s bizarre.” 

He harvested Pearl winter barley in late July, destined for Simpson’s for malting. It averaged 7.5t/ha. Next, in early August was oilseed rape – Imprint and Matrix – which averaged 4.4t/ha. “Oils were in the mid-40s [%], which was pleasing, and moisture was perfect at 7-8%.” 

Barrel winter wheat yielded 10.5t/ha but Hagbergs were very low, he says. “We’re not sure why.” 

Extase was grown as a first wheat, yielding 11t/ha. “We grew Skyscraper as a second wheat, but this year it let us down and we didn’t get much over 8.75t/ha. We had a massive area of second wheat, Gleam, which did really well, yielding over 10t/ha.” 

East Yorkshire 

Guy Shelby hopes to complete most of his harvest at Benningholme Grange, Beverley in the next couple of days. “We have about 40ha left of winter wheat, combining peas, linseed and spring oats.” 

Including his own and local farms he combines for, winter wheat amounts to 400ha.

“At home we grew Graham, Dawsum and Cranium feed wheats, which have yielded very well. The first wheats did over 12t/ha and the second wheats, over 10t/ha. Dawsum did especially well. Specific weights were 78-84kg/hl.” 

A farm he harvests for on the Yorkshire Wolds that grows milling wheat yielded around 10-12t/ha. “The milling wheat made full spec,” he says. 

Massey Ferguson tractor and New Holland baler at work on spring barley © Richard Laidler

On his farm, he grew spring barley variety Skyway, which averaged 8t/ha. He is waiting to get it sampled to see whether it will be suitable for malting. 

He expects linseed grown by a neighbour to be ready to combine at the end of week commencing 29 August. 

 “Overall, I can’t complain. We haven’t had to dry anything and it’s been pretty straightforward. Last year we were still cutting wheat on 18 September.”