Farmers in the Arbroath area of Scotland have cut most of their winter barley, with both yields and quality proving reasonable.

But it is still early days, with very little oilseed rape, wheat or spring barley cut as yet, says Trevor Harriman general manager of Scotgrain.

“Most of the winter barley grown up here is for farmers’ home use, so it never gets to see the light of day,” he said.

While farmers in the North of Scotland had enjoyed reasonably dry weather over the past few weeks, those in Lothian and the Borders had suffered more prolonged wet periods.

“But it’s nothing like last year, when the main problem was not being able to travel on the wet ground.”

Some oilseed rape had now been cut, but other crops were a long way from ripening, said Mr Harriman.

“I think farmers will be into wheat at the back end of next week (w/c 26 August). I would hope wheat yields will be okay – and spring barley shouldn’t be too bad either, but it’s just too early to tell.”