Cereal farmers continue to report low interest in straw for winter feed and bedding. Price reports on round bales of barley straw range from £10 to £12 before collection charges are applied, which can add a further £2 to £4/bale depending on distance and haulage arrangement.

Current prices are down by £2 to £5 from early August. There have been some reports of 8x4x3 bales of straw being offered for sale as low as £20, down from £28 to £30 in the summer.

Round bales of winter wheat straw have been extremely slow to move, with reports of £10/bale before transport costs are included. Due to weak demand, many farmers harvesting spring wheat and oats opted to chop straw.

Some growers plan to hold bales until spring, in the hope that early housing will use up straw reserves on livestock farms, and that demand will increase as calving and lambing gets under way.

Winter planting

Despite a slow start to winter planting, farmers report significant progress in the acreage of winter crops plants sown inside the past fortnight.

There had been some concerns that farmers might not have been able to meet requirements around the three-crop rule for BPS claims. But with sowing of winter barley more or less complete, and establishment of winter wheat crops well advanced, these concerns have been alleviated.

Settled weather has also seen significant progress being made with potato harvesting inside the past week with farmers reporting excellent yields compared with last year.