Combines are busy gathering in wheat, barley and oilseed rape today (12 August), with extremely mixed results across the country.

In Berkshire, Richard and Tom Brown were both busy combining at Priors Farm, Newbury, but were disappointed with yields so far.

“We’ve cut 12ha of spring oats, which looked fantastic, but yielded terribly,” said Richard. “They barely did 5t/ha.”

Spring barley was also failing to meet expectations. “It’s a nice bold sample, but it certainly won’t get anywhere near 7.4t/ha, which is what we’d normally expect.”

ChaCha spring barley was also unexciting, yielding a mediocre 6t/ha at Sir Richard Hyde-Parker Farms, Long Melford, Suffolk, where Tim Payne was about to move into winter wheat.

“Half of the fields are second spring barleys, thanks to the wet autumn – but we haven’t spent too much on growing it, which is a bonus,” he said.

In contrast, Paul Hartley was extremely pleased with winter wheat at Poplar Farm, Downham Market, Norfolk.

Yields from 69ha of Scout, Gallant and Cordiale ranged from 9.57t/ha to 10.8t/ha, with bushel weights around 80kg/hl.

“It’s a lot better than last year – and protein contents appear to be good, too, so we’re happy.”

Across in the West, Rob Bebbington had made a start on harvest at Fieldfare Farms, Whitchurch, Shropshire, but was on hold again, waiting for crops to ripen.

“We cut some winter barley but it wasn’t really ready and was difficult to thrash, so we pulled out of it again,” he said.

“It was the same story on oilseed rape – it was sprayed off two weeks ago but it’s just not quite ready.”

In Tyne & Wear, torrential rain today meant few farmers would be combining near Wardley, although, again, most crops were still not quite ripe.

With only 6ha of winter barley in the ground, Geoff Alderslade had made a start on harvest at West Fellgate Farm, with an uninspiring average yield of 5t/ha.

“It never looked very well, having been drilled into very wet conditions, and there were lots of bare patches,” he said. “It’s not going to pay many bills.”