Harvest moisture: 2026 vs 2025. The as-harvested moistures confirm a dry start. Cereals are averaging around 13.6% so far this year against roughly 14.0% at the equivalent stage of 2025 — around half a point drier. The bigger story is in the oilseed rape, coming off at an average of about 6.3%, well below both last year's early entries and the 8% standard itself. Crop arriving that far under spec is effectively giving away weight at the intake, and growers holding dry rape in store may recover some of that margin by conditioning back towards standard before movement.

The wheat entries have arrived in numbers, and the early running is being made by KWS Dawsum, opening at 9.53 t/ha adjusted — some 23% ahead of the same point last year — with grain coming in drier at 13.9% against 15.3%. KWS Extase is also ahead of its 2025 pace, at 7.58 t/ha adjusted, up 6.2%, and coming off remarkably dry at 12.0% moisture against 17.0% last year. Bamford has made its first appearance in the survey at a creditable 7.71 t/ha. Across the wheats as a whole, though, the picture is mixed — several varieties are running behind their 2025 equivalents at this early stage, so the aggregate has ground to make up as samples build.

In the barleys, KWS Tardis continues its solid start, averaging 8.97 t/ha adjusted against 8.51 t/ha at the equivalent stage of 2025 — up 5.4% — on one of the strongest sample sizes in the survey so far. Taken together, though, average barley yields remain slightly behind last year's early pace.

The oilseed rape continues to show well on yield too. Aurelia is running at 3.90 t/ha adjusted, ahead of its 2025 equivalent, while Abelia (3.98 t/ha) and PI Pinnacle (4.41 t/ha) have made respectable starts with no 2025 counterparts in the window to compare against.

Sample sizes per variety remain small, and regional mix, drilling date and individual fields will still be exerting a strong pull on the numbers. But at nearly 10,000 acres the dataset is firming up, and the emerging themes — a dry, early harvest, with the leading wheats and barleys ahead of last year — should come into sharper focus over the coming fortnight.