Harvest progress report: 18 August 2025
Each Monday during harvest we are sharing the first-hand accounts of farmers across the UK.
Harvest is coming to a close for the vast majority of farms across England, with most reporting a complete or near-complete harvest of their cereals and oilseeds. The focus is now on finishing the last remaining fields and, for some, moving onto niche crops like linseed and beans. In Scotland and parts of Wales, harvest is still underway.
Here’s what we heard on the ground over the past week:
South
The cereal harvest is effectively complete across the South. In Gloucestershire, one farmer reported finishing cutting their feed wheat last week, which completes their harvest for the year. Similarly, the harvest of barley, OSR and wheat is all completed for a farm in Dorset, with the farmer confirming the final fields of wheat having been cut last week. Over in Somerset, the wheat harvest is now finished, leaving one farmer to harvest his niche crops, linseed and beans, in the coming weeks.
East
The harvest is also fairly complete across the East of England, with one report from Norfolk indicating that the harvest of wheat, malting barley and OSR is not only finished, but that all crops have already been sold. Elsewhere in the region, farmers in Cambridgeshire have completed their milling wheat, feed barley, and malting barley, while in Essex, the cutting of milling wheat and milling oats is also done.
Midlands
In Shropshire, for the farmers we spoke with, the harvest of feed wheat, feed oats, and OSR is all done. By contrast, in Powys, one farmer has finished winter barley and is ready to move into oats, but still considers the wheat harvest to be a fortnight away.
North
In Cumbria, one farmer growing wheat and oats reports being halfway through their harvest. Meanwhile, in North Yorkshire, the barley, wheat, and oats harvest is looking good in spite of the challenging weather conditions, and harvest in the county seems to be approaching completion.
Scotland
The harvest of feed wheat, feed barley, malting barley, and OSR is reported as complete by one farmer in Angus. In the Scottish Borders, progress is also nearing the end, with one farmer reporting that they are in their final week of harvesting cereals, and another reports having a couple of fields of spring barley still to go.
