Harvest Comments

Harvest CommentsWhat a difference a year makes! In June of last year we had huge levels of rainfall that had a detrimental effect on yield and quality in nearly all crops. This year you could say the month of June was the exact opposite and thankfully provided excellent foundations for yield. Though the harvest is by no means finished Winter Barley would appear to be the prize crop this year. Yield reports vary from 3.5 to 4.5tonnes/acre in both 2 row and 6 row varieties. Cassia (2 row) in particular has performed excellently with KPHs as high as 68 at 18-19% moisture.

Though Winter Barley was the standout performer this year, a word of caution; lightning does not always strike twice and it may not be the best approach to place all of your bets on Winter Barley for next year. OSR is actually the surprise performer this year considering all of the pigeon and slug damage earlier in the season. At different times this year growers of OSR would have contemplated bringing back in the plough and starting from scratch. However, this a extremely hardy crop, standing up to all sorts of setbacks and at yields of 1.3-1.7 tonnes/acre is as good a pay as any crop this harvest.