What brilliant weather we have had for the wheat harvest. With moistures plummeting to 13% and the combine running as hot as a nuclear reactor, golden grain flowed into the grain store, largely bypassing the drier. We did have to dry some, but the highest moisture we had was around 20% for the first few hundred tonnes.

It was a relaxed wheat harvest, which was a lovely change.

With the forecast so good and the daytime temperatures touching 30°C, there was no real urgency. Consequently, we broke no combine records and, moreover, as straw walker losses were an issue with such high volumes of straw, daily outputs were tight on 225t.

It was, after all, an ideal year for those with rotary combines – ultra-fit crops with loads of straw and good yields leading to massive output. Straw walker combines very definitely have their limitations, but in a more typical harvest, they come into their own. But, for all of that, the Claas smoothly produced a lovely sample. She’s a good one and I like her.

Straw walker combines very definitely have their limitations, but in a more typical harvest

The wheat was also good with bushel weights often exceeding 80kg/hectolitre, so the quality is excellent. But at the risk of sounding greedy (like a dairy farmer targeting 1,000 cows), wheat yields were not as high as I had hoped for.

The very dusty view from the combine cab was of a sea of perfect wheat falling to the knife, though we did have some lodging. But from my commanding seat, I could also see circles of wheat ears which were secondarily diseased following an aphid-borne attack of barley yellow dwarf virus (BYDV).

BYDV certainly did reduce yields in some September-sown wheat, particularly after beans, which was disappointing. One 44ac field of the variety Graham achieved 5t/ac (below 15%) which was rewarding, but it’s overall averages that count. We’re done with Costello – the quality is superb but the yield potential and septoria resistance is not. Torp hit 5t as well. Anyhow, to cut to the chase, our overall wheat average yield is 4.55t/ac, which leaves it second to the record-breaking 2015 wheat harvest.

Wheat breeding

If I may dwell on wheat varieties for a moment. Wheat breeders are lagging behind. I got 4t/ac almost 40 years ago, so there’s very little progress there. And modern fungicides with star this and that are not much better. There was more septoria than recent years in Kildalkey, possibly due to the warm May, and this certainly affected yields to some degree.

On this farm, it is difficult to see any serious step forward in disease control after the use of the two newer actives, which is a little concerning.

Conversely, spring barley varieties have improved hugely over the same period. This harvest, we hit 3.84t/ac of Skyway with an overall average to-date of 3.44t, which is incredible for this farm. That’s huge progress in spring barley breeding.

On this farm, it is difficult to see any serious step forward in disease control after the use of the two newer actives, which is a little concerning

Winter oilseed varieties have also improved hugely, with 2t being the new norm. We broke our own yield record for this crop this year. But wheat varieties have not improved to anything like the same degree and it’s costing a fortune to grow.

We’ll try the new variety Dawsum this year, but I expect it’ll be the same-old-same-old with Costello in its pedigree.

The Greens, the media and the meteorologists tell us we can expect more hot, droughty summers like this. Frankly, I’m not so sure. I’d still upgrade the drier.

Finally, may I commend the ITLUS appeal to you, to donate the value of a tonne of grain (or part thereof) to support the work of the Red Cross in Ukraine. It’s a very worthy cause.