Stuttering start to harvest season

Harvest 2017 has gotten off to what can only be described as a stuttering start.

It seems to me that as soon as the combines come out of the shed, rain seems to fall, frustrating for everyone.

However, the good news is that the barley quality is significantly up on last year as is the price.

We have seen some excellent two-row barleys come into the lab and they have tested at around 69kg, KWS Orwell doing particularly well.

The six-row samples have not been anywhere near as good with some samples testing as low as 57kg.

It makes me wonder whether from a marketing or a feeding point of view, if it is worth growing six-row barley – that’s a bit contentious.

The reports on Oilseed Rape seem to be good with a few customers reporting that they are topping two tne/acre but I would think the average is around 1.75 tne/acre.

It is a little early for wheat, but from what I am hearing yields seem to be encouraging. Having said that we are hearing reports of wheat sprouting in the south east.

As far as the markets are concerned we are getting a mixed picture from the US where some states are in drought and others are drenched.

The word in the market is that USDA were far too optimistic with last month’s yield estimate and if that is the case and they downgrade their estimates in the next few days then things could get fiery.

The big funds have switched from being bears to bulls, but they don’t always get it right. Here’s to a successful and hopefully easy harvest to you all and keep your eye on the rollercoaster that is the grain market.

The fertiliser market now appears to have settled down after “Mad May” and prices have firmed up by £20.

Having said that the only demand we are getting at the moment is for usage, so it will be interesting to see what happens to the fertiliser market as we head into autumn – another year seems to be flying by.

G.O Davies (Westbury) Ltd has been trading in Westbury, west of Shrewsbury for 54 years and is now the largest privately-owned grain merchant operating across Wales and the West Midlands.

We are main agents for Yara fertilisers and produce our own branded seed corn. We also supply agrochemicals, grass seed, animal feed and bespoke game cover mixes.