It has been an exceptional year in terms of early harvests, even as far north as the Scottish Borders. As some growers begin to finish cutting, quality looks reasonable despite the very dry conditions.  

Wiltshire

Edward Parsons has nearly completed harvest at Templemans Farm near Redlynch, Salisbury, with a small amount of spring barley and oats to go.

The 65ha of Crusoe wheat yielded 11t/ha with protein at 12.2% and 80-83kg/hl specific weight. He also had 62ha of Gleam first and second wheat, which yielded 12t/ha and 10t/ha, respectively. “We budget for 9t/ha on wheat – so we’re way above,” says Mr Parsons.

Ambassador oilseed rape achieved a reasonable yield. “Some of it did 3.8-3.9t/ha but the average was 3.4t/ha – two fields did really well, but one field brought the average down,” he says.

But the star of the show was 37ha of Laureate spring barley that has achieved malting quality. “It has possibly done 9t/ha but I haven’t quite finished it yet – it’s unbelievable if it has, because I’ve never done 9t/ha on barley.”

See also: Harvest 2022: Good yields but low proteins in milling wheats

Essex

Harvest has wrapped up nearly a month early for Will Wombwell at Rectory Farm, near Saffron Walden.

Cutting 970ha of crops in total, he has just 24ha of wheat and 20ha of spring barley left. Santiago wheat achieved 9t/ha at 82kg/hl, but the highlight was 44ha of Skyfall for seed, which yielded 10.5t/ha.

“Wheat has yielded better on lighter soils, averaging 9t/ha, but the heavier land was 1t/ha behind.”

The 100ha of Blazen oilseed rape averaged 3t/ha. “It has quite small seeds but there weren’t any flea beetles walking out of the shed so that’s always a bonus.”

© Susan Peachey

Scottish Borders

Harvest started a fortnight early at McGregor Farms, in Berwickshire. “We started our 224ha of winter barley on 16 July and finished on 19 July,” says Colin McGregor.

Growing feed varieties Tardis, Kingston and Thunderbolt, yields averaged 9.56t/ha, up 4.6% on the five-year average.

“Moistures were below 16%. We actually stopped cutting one of the days in the hot spell because the crop was too dry. I’ve never done that in the whole of my career,” says Mr McGregor.

Oilseed rape yields have averaged 5.24t/ha so far, with Aurelia the standout variety and yields up 8.5% on the five-year average.

Wheat harvest will begin in the next couple of days, with 1,686ha of feed varieties to cut.

Shropshire

Isabel Udale Moseley, who farms at Eyton House Farm, grew winter barley for the first time, with the variety Hawking yielding 7.9t/ha at 11-13% moisture with a specific weight of 66kg/hl.

Oat yield was also a little disappointing, she says. “We grew 36ha of Mascani, which yielded 6.4t/ha with a specific weight of 51-54kg/hl.”

Oilseed rape yields were pleasing at 4.45t/ha from the holl variety, V367OL which will supply McDonald’s.

“It’s the first time we’ve grown this variety and we have it down to grow next year. We also grew Aurelia which did 5.2t/ha. Moisture contents ranged from 6-8%.”