The grain harvest in Great Britain is difficult, especially in the north of the country. Due to the rain, combines come to a standstill more than once. The crops to be harvested also suffer from the wetness.
Dat reports Farmers Guardian based on messages from growers and experts. One of these experts is Andrew Roy, agronomist at Frontier Agriculture. After another weekend of heavy rain, he describes the crop situation in North Yorkshire, Durham and Northumberland as 'quite demoralising'.
Worries about further harvest
While in North Yorkshire most barley and oilseed rape has been harvested, in Durham barley is 80% to 90% harvested and oilseed rape is 60% to 70%. Less progress is being made in Northumberland. In these 3 regions, most wheat still needs to be threshed. According to Roy, barley yields are exceptionally good and rapeseed yields are reasonably good.
However, due to the wet soil, there are concerns about the further grain harvest. The Scottish RM & JF Seed reports on Twitter that the precipitation is now falling in buckets again. Both the soil and the crop are under pressure.
Russell McKenzie reported with disappointment that earlier this week the combine could not continue with the wheat harvest, which is now about halfway done. According to the Cambridgeshire grower, last Sunday's 5 millimeters of rainfall was more than expected and that threw the plans into disarray. "Due to the strong wind on Saturday, the 20 to 30 millimeters from last week had dried up quite a bit, but on Sunday we were back to square one."
Quality is declining
At Tom Martin's farm near Peterborough, wheat crops were battered by rain and wind. Some crops fell, interrupting the harvest. Due to the persistent wet conditions, the quality also deteriorates. “Grain is starting to crack and some rotting is occurring, but that is to be expected.”
He continues: "The crop has been ready for harvest for almost 3 weeks, but every second or third day it is wet. These are difficult conditions to maintain the quality of wheat and malting barley." Despite this, early wheat yields are reported to be reaching the 5-year average of 8,6 tonnes per hectare.