Oilseed rape has exceeded all expectations for many farmers. One Stafford farmer with both light and heavy land farms has harvested 350 tonnes off 180 acres, something he never expected to achieve. A heavy land field of Excalibur produced 2.5 tonnes an acre despite extensive pigeon damage over the winter.

The Bayliss family of farmers, contractors and machinery dealers north of Stafford have 250 acres of spring rape that is not yet ready but the autumn sown variety Pioneer is producing two tonne crops coming off the combine at 9.6 per cent moisture.

Like many other oilseed rape growers they have already sold forward their rape straw, a crop not favoured by livestock farmers in the past when straw was cheap. Barley straw prices are lower this year than last at about £40 an acre in the swath.

Grain buyer Stuart Dolphin of GrainLink at Astley, Shrewsbury said the oilseed rape price stands at about £370 a tonne and there is a strong demand for it in Europe. One exceptional crop of Cubic had an oil content of 48.1 per cent giving it a value of an extra £60 a tonne, he said.

Cereal crops have been affected by the Spring drought particularly on the lighter land where some Winter barley crops have yielded two tonnes an acre or less. Many crops have had a good deal of secondary growth.

Some better fields have pushed to the three tonnes/acre mark. Crops of the long strawed Pearl made 2.5 tonnes whilst on the same farm the short strawed Florentine was only yielding two tonnes on light land. The Sands family at Brewood started their harvest with a two-tonne field but many since have hit three tonnes with moisture levels of the grain down at 12 to 13 per cent.

Stuart Dolphin says barleys are selling ex-farm at around £150 a tonne with the first malting samples showing nitrogen levels below 1.7. The oat crop does not look as good as last year having been affected by the Spring drought and producing a lot of second growth.

There is a long way to go yet he says, but harvesting conditions have been excellent. A note of caution is that the drought will affect stocks of certified seed. So get your seed orders in now.