James Dean has made an excellent start to harvest at Church Farms, Salisbury, Wiltshire, with almost 400ha now cut and in the barn.

“We’ve done all the winter barley, which averaged 7.4t/ha, and in the next couple of days will have finished the oilseed rape,” he said.

Although he had Cabernet, Camelot and Rhino, yields were dependent on which crops had coped best with the difficult winter.

“The fields that came through the winter okay yielded 3.7t/ha, with the others coming off at 3.3t/ha.”

As well as the barley and rapeseed, Mr Dean had cut 80ha of naked oats, which yielded over 5t/ha, and 100ha of peas.

“The maple peas averaged 5t/ha, while the Prophet large blues did 3.7t/ha,” he said.

With two combines on the go, he expected to finish oilseed rape in the next couple of days, before moving onto spring barley.

“I’m a board member for Wiltshire Grain, and all the spring barley they’re getting in so far is making the grade.”

Crop: Winter barley
Varieties: Joy and Cassata
Area: 243ha
Yield: 7.4t/ha

Crop: Oilseed rape
Varieties: Cabernet, Camelot and Rhino
Area: 400ha
Yield 3.3-3.7t/ha

Crop: Naked oats
Area: 80ha
Yield: >5t/ha

Crop: Peas
Variety: Prophet
Yield: 3.7t/ha