Harvest Predictions 2024 - East of England
In contrast, where spring drilling was postponed by the weather, the delay has been beneficial in terms of black-grass control.
From a quality perspective, most crops are looking good considering the season. Wheats are in the final stages of flowering, with plenty of septoria and brown rust to be found. Winter barley is starting to turn, with the gates now shut on crops until combining commences.
Spring barley also looks good at the moment, with crops at the flowering stage. The final fungicide applications have only just been applied, so we've probably yet to see what the weather brings in terms of testing the persistency of disease control programmes.
Sugar beet is also looking good, and even though drilled later than normal, most crops have done a pretty good job of going through their growth stages and are not too far behind where they should be in a more ‘normal’ year.
Assuming the weather stays on side, we’ll probably see the first combines rolling in the next week or fortnight, but in terms of yield predictions for wheat, barley and oilseed rape, your guess is as good as mine!
