Harvest Review 2025
Harvest Review 2025
Charlie Parker, Managing Director, JSR Farms, reflects on harvest 2025.
For the last two years we have thought 13th July is an early start to harvest. This year it was even earlier; we started winter barley on 8th July. With the weather on our side, we finished combinable harvest in record time on 12th August at Southburn.
In early July; it looked like we may have been heading for a 2015 record breaker for winter crops but as July progressed and the drought took hold crops started to show signs of stress. Given the lack of moisture; spring crops have always been the worry and even these were not a disaster.
Overall and compared to other areas of the country; yields and quality have been pleasing.
Wheat
2025 saw our largest area of wheat grown for several years. There was good sized areas of wheat scattered across most of the farms. This meant proceeding crops, geography and varieties were at their most diverse.
Unfortunately, due to the wet autumn of 2024 and early part of winter, some later drilled crops on the lower ground (off the Wolds) suffered waterlogging and in the worst areas we lost the crop. Amongst these areas the yield was severely compromised too. That said, we had some exceptional yields that went someway to making up for this loss. Our overall first wheat yield averaged 10.45 t/ha, with a high just under 13 t/ha. Seconds wheats showed a large discrepancy in yield to first wheats due to poorer root structure and the dry growing season. A small area of second wheats averaged 8.3 t/ha.
No one variety stood out, with Champion, Cranium, Beowulf and Typhoon all giving respectable yields and quality. Like the winter barley; specific weights were exceptional.
Wheat harvest was complete on 12th August with the drier at Green Lane only fired up once or twice all harvest. One of the major benefits of a dry season!
Barley
An early start to winter barley harvest allowed us to maintain yield and quality. Straw was all baled and lead immediately without the need to employ the ‘woofler’. Yields of Tardis two-row barley at Tibthorpe and Haywold were all well above 11 t/ha. The same variety at Givendale was more variable due to the thinner soils and field aspect. The overall yield of winter barley was 10.3 t/ha. Specific weights were exceptional touching into the 70’s kg/ha.
Spring barley harvest started on 3rd August. Although the crops were short in straw length and thinner than liked, an acceptable yield of 7.11 t/ha was achieved. Again, specific weights were very good.
Oilseed Rape
Oilseed rape harvest started on 17th July, going into some of our most consistent crops for many years. The crops look big, but it is always the combines that find the truth! One day of rape harvest; and the weather broke, giving us the first rains in some time. Panic set in but harvest continued on 22nd July!
A mix of mainly Attica & Aurelia varieties gave us a record yield of 5.25 t/ha and very nearly all harvested dry.
Potatoes
Seed potato harvest started on 23rd August . Yields and quality have been pleasing given the incredibly dry season and the fact we do not irrigate our seed crops. We put this down as a contribution from years of our liquid and solid gold!
Aided by irrigation; our Melody ware crop has again performed in both yield and quality.
All crops safely in store by 8th October; let’s hope a hard winter keeps people wanting to eat potatoes!
Peas
Pea drilling went almost seamlessly in the spring, with good seed beds and the ability to roll afterwards. A later drilling slot in the pea group meant moisture was at a premium. As things got drier, the peas struggled, showing signs of stress in various ways. Aphid pressure was high and virus transmission almost unavoidable. All these issues compounded to give poorer than normal yields. Our stand out yields were at Fimber.
Pea harvest started on 3rd July at Swaythorpe and finished on 30th July at Eastburn, a stones throw from the factory.
Thank you to the JSR arable team for all their hard work and dedication for another successful and safe harvest.
