The spring cereal harvest is wrapped up for most now. The sunshine over the last few days has helped farmers, especially those with little breaks from the rain in places like the northwest, to get things done and in great condition with straw being baled off the combine.

However, some late-sown spring barley crops remain to be cut and may not be ready until next week. Yields are variable, but generally around the 2t/ac mark.

Quality has taken a hit in the last week to 10 days with bushel levels dropping significantly, according to reports.

With just under 15,000ha of spring beans in the ground the harvest will go on for another while longer.

Many with early-sown (February) spring beans are finished up harvesting. Yields generally hovered around the 2t/ac mark, with some falling below this mark.

A nice number were happy with yields of around 2.4t/ac and there are reports of yields as high as 2.8t/ac to 3t/ac as you travel further south.

Moisture levels fell significantly this week, with some cutting at 17% to 18% moisture content. The sunshine and hot temperatures this week will help to bring April-sown crops in quicker.

Tillage farmers are now extremely busy wrapping up harvest and baling, as well as planting the last of the oilseed rape, cultivating stubbles and rushing to plant catch crops for livestock and to meet the 15 September deadline for ACRES.

Meanwhile, grain prices have fallen substantially. French wheat for December dropped almost €10/t over the past week and a half or so bringing the price to €235/t.

This was reflected in prices at home with dry wheat at about €235/t and dry barley at about €225/t.