Ophelia proved yet another obstacle to progressing with work on tillage farm. Maize crops have been flattened by the 100 mile an hour winds, and the rains that accompanied the storm left ground which had been drying nicely over the weekend unworkable again.

Only about 20-25% of the expected winter barley planting has been achieved, with the optimum time for planting now passed. Wheat and oats are scarcely better placed, but have longer windows into November than barley.

Some unharvested cereal crops are on the point of abandonment at this stage, with straw increasingly being chopped or scattered out for incorporation into the soil. Combines are still being seen heading into fields, but it’s most likely to be for beans. Potato and sugar beet harvesting is not at a critical point yet, growers can wait a little longer. In contrast, time is ticking on what is surely the final deadline for planting catch crops, and progress is still reportedly slow. It seems inevitable that some farmers will require a derogation from planting.

The irony is that a lot of tillage land is not particularly wet- it just isn't getting that extra day's drying to allow fieldwork to proceed in anything better than a smash and grab manner. Forecasts of another inch of rain over the weekend are currently being followed by optimistic noises around next week's weather, but farmers have heard all that before in recent months, and are wary of that forecast deteriorating as next week arrives. With Halloween and winter approaching, a week of settled good weather is badly needed.