The Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) is confirming that the cereal harvest in Great Britain (GB) is now 90% complete.
By comparison, the five-year average for harvest progress by this point in the season is 52%.
The winter wheat harvest for GB as a whole is estimated to be 92% complete now, with the majority of crop left to be cut in the north east and Scotland.
The GB winter oilseed rape (WOSR) harvest is now complete, with the winter barley harvest being completed in the week ending August 9.
Spring barley GB harvest is now 73% complete. As of August 16, it was estimated that 79% of the GB oat area had been harvested.
Weather for harvest
Drought has now been declared in parts of eastern and south England following weeks of hot and dry weather.
The UK average rainfall for the week ending August 9, 2022 was only 7% of the long-term average (1mm compared to 13.4mm). The south east was the driest region (0.1mm), while Scotland was the wettest (3.8mm).
The week ending August 16, 2022 saw another heat wave, with amber weather warnings for extreme heat issued. Localised thunderstorms and rain were seen across parts of GB on Monday.
Hot grain has continued to be an issue, with many farmers only having to condition grain to reach cool enough temperatures for safe storage, rather than physically dry the grain.
This has enabled many to save on fuel costs by not running the grain drier. The exception has been where grain has been green/unripe and small amounts have needed to be dried.
There has been a continued backlog of grain in stores, as haulage issues remain, due to shortages of suitable lorries and drivers.
The risk of combine and crop fires has been a major stressor for farmers this season, with increased attention to blowing out filters for dust at the end of the day.
Farmers have been combining with water bowsers, and tractors with ploughs positioned close by to act in the event of a crop or combine fire.
Baling
For wheat, straw is being baled behind the combine with minimal need to leave it lying in the field for drying.
In some cases, the straw is being baled at night to capture moisture, so as to reduce brittleness, allowing for easier baling.
Winter barley straw is of variable quality this year, with some hard to bale and some getting smashed due to brittleness.
For spring barley there are variable straw yields, with higher yields on earlier sown crops due to better crop establishment.
For oat straw, yields have been variable from spring crops, depending on the success of establishment.
Crops that established well in moisture retentive soil produced more straw.
Hot, dry weather has encouraged crop ripening, reducing the amount of sticky, green straw, allowing farmers to bale shortly after the combine has harvested the grain.
