Speaking to Adam Christie of Scottish Agronomy Ltd, he has seen an unprecedented variation in the yields that some farmers are reporting for spring barley yields throughout Scotland.

“I have never known a harvest that was as all over the place,” Adam admitted.

“A lot of progress is being made in fields and farmers would be hoping to break the back of the spring barley harvest over the next week.

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“I have talked to farmers where yields were varying from under 5t/ha to other farmers who were close to 10t/ha.

“In general, I would say that yields have been back by about o.5t/ha on what we have generally seen over the past few years.”

Boost

One boost for farmers is that intake standards have changed to allow for more spring barley to be accepted for malting, according to Adam.

“Barley is being accepted with a 1.8% nitrogen level up from 1.65% last year. Merchants may even have to take barley with a higher nitrogen level because if they don’t take it, then they will be too short when it comes to next year.”

However, it is not all good news, with a reported weakening in the price of wheat from highs of £190/t down to around the £180/t mark in recent weeks.

The reported straw yield will also be a concern for both arable and livestock farmers.

“Straw yields have been awful for spring barley,” according to Adam.

“It’s not like 10 years ago where every tonne of straw was looking for a home, now every tonne already has a home before it is baled. I don’t think I have ever seen as much rape straw baled in all my life.”