Good progress has been made in tillage fields since Sunday, but rain continued to stop that progress depending on where you were in the country.

Tillage farmers are going through an extremely difficult time at present and need some sunshine to help with harvest.

The focus is now mainly on spring barley and winter wheat.

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The clock is ticking to get some of these crops cut, as they are breaking down in fields and quality is deteriorating.

25% complete

Reports placed the spring barley harvest, our biggest crop at 132,000ha, at an estimated 25% complete on Tuesday of this week.

Both winter wheat and spring barley crops are sprouting in some instances.

Spring barley is extremely uneven to ripen for many farmers, as secondary growth springs up through crops and results in green grains in samples.

This is making malting specifications difficult to meet, as well as fusarium being present on some grain, while germination is a problem for others.

There is a wide variation in protein levels around the country, with many meeting malting standards.

Falling crops

Heavy rain caused many crops to fall in July and many of those crops are now ready to cut, but they really need sunshine to make the job easier.

While the early spring barley crops yielded quite well - mostly over 3t/ac and some headed for 3.75t/ac - it looks like the April-sown crops are now under 3t/ac and many may be nearer to 2t/ac.

Winter wheat is hovering around the 4t/ac mark.

Straw is still proving hard to gather. Some farmers turned fields this week as a few dry days are due together, but rain hit some of these crops again on Tuesday.