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Harvest 2024 got under way this week, with some farmers taking advantage of settled conditions on Monday and Tuesday to combine winter barley.
To date, the areas combined are small and generally confined to pockets of lighter land in the south and southeast of NI.
Green barley
Prices for green barley have yet to materialise due to the limited area harvested, but are likely to emerge once combine activity increases.
While it is very early days in terms of progress, there have been positive reports on yield, particularly from crops of six-row barley.
At the upper end, some hybrid barley varieties are averaging close to 4t/acre where crops were planted in early autumn and well established going into winter.
Equally, there are reports of yields struggling to better 3t/acre where wet ground conditions impeded tillering over winter and a lack of sunshine limited grain fill from late spring onwards.
Moisture
Moisture levels reported are in the region of 20% to 22% and will partially inflate grain yields coming off the combine. Yields are expected to fall as moisture content drops closer to 15%.
In terms of straw yields, a similar trend exists with well-established crops that allowed plants to tiller fully, producing bigger quantities of straw.
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