BUMPER crop yields in England are adding to the misery of farmers in Scotland where wheat and barley are still standing in sodden fields.

While harvest is already done and dusted in the south, most Scots farmers have yet to begin bringing in the harvest because of the poor weather Scotland has endured this summer.

Moreover, the bumper yields in the south – which have made world records – are hitting already “unsustainably” low crop prices.

“Prices are poor and the fact that harvest has gone so well in other parts of the UK is not going to help trade here,” said Bob Carruth, of the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) Scotland. “However, farmers are more worried about the actual harvest than the price at the moment – they are not going to get anything for it until they get it off the fields.”

At least 10 days of dry weather is needed to make any sort of dent in the harvest but, even if farmers do get started, they are worried about the yields and quality, according to Carruth.

“It has been such poor weather that farmers are fairly fearful of what they are going to find when they start,” he said.

“In terms of acreage, spring barley is the biggest crop we grow and it is also the mainstay of the whisky industry. It needs to be good quality to get a premium price but wet weather works against the quality.”

He said the west and north, particularly Orkney and Caithness, had been badly hit by rainfall levels significantly above the norm.

“Caithness County Show was a complete mud bath and the ground is just sodden in Orkney. For producers up there it’s not just the barley – they need the straw for their livestock and if they have poor yields they will have to buy straw to keep their cattle dry over winter.”

Farmers will also face hefty drying charges for any crops they manage to harvest. Carruth added: “Some parts of the country will have been harvesting at 13 or 14 per cent moisture but here in Scotland, even if we get a dry spell, the likelihood is that most farmers will face drying costs to get the moisture down to an acceptable level.

“If you don’t, it rots or picks up fungus plus there are penalties if you sell it and it is not dry enough.

“The fuel costs won’t be as high as they have been in previous years but when you are already facing a lower price for the crops the last thing you want is the expense of drying them as well.”

Yields have been so high in England that one farm from Lincolnshire made a world record, taking in 16.5 tons of wheat to the hectare – 10 tons to the hectare is considered a decent crop in Scotland in a good summer.

“If it continues like this it is going to be very difficult,” said Ian Sands who farms at Balbeggie, near Perth. “There certainly won’t be bumper yields in this area while further north the yields are definitely down and we are looking at a disaster in the west as they have hardly had three dry days in a row.

“Even if the yields are decent the quality might not be there because we have had such a wet year. There is too much grain in the country now and prices are a problem.

“Wheat and barley are well below £100 a ton whereas three or four years ago it was £200 for malting barley and over £200 for wheat.

“Meanwhile, our costs have doubled and it really is unsustainable at the moment.”

Sands, chair of NFU Scotland’s combinable crops committee, pointed out that when wheat prices went above £200 a few years ago, the price of bread rose but has not come back down in line with wheat prices .

“The supermarkets are taking the profit but not passing it back – it is the same as with milk. If these prices go on farming is not going to be sustainable. Supermarkets need to give us a fair price to keep us in business so they have a product to sell.

“The same goes for the maltsters. They try to source as much as they can from Scotland but if the quality is poor the crops will be sold for cattle feed which is not good as it is a difference of around £60 a ton.”