After another difficult season for UK agriculture, we are reflecting on the 2026 harvest and explain why patience, healthy soils and a low-cost approach to crop establishment is essential to future profitability.
The question facing every farming business today is how to remain viable in an increasingly challenging environment.
A disappointing harvest in 2025 was followed by wheat prices remaining stubbornly around £170/t. Crops looked promising in the spring, but the prolonged dry weather prevented much of that potential from being realised.
Here on the Claydon family farm in Suffolk, we recorded just 3mm of rain from March until the first week of June, when 50mm fell. After that, there was virtually nothing until the end of July.
Fortunately, after 23 years of using the Claydon drill, our Hanslope Series clay soils are in excellent condition. There were no signs of compaction, despite not using a subsoiler, and crop roots were able to travel down through the soil profile to find moisture at depth. The crops remained healthy and continued growing through to maturity.
Combined with the low cost of establishing them, this put us in a good position going into harvest. Yields were down on what we have come to expect on the farm, but a reasonable average of 8/9 t/h, not bad considering the drought this season.
Patience After Harvest
An early harvest created an opportunity to establish cover crops at the beginning of August. However, with the high temperatures continuing and the soil still extremely dry, the decision was made to wait. As Jeff puts it “Cultivating dry soil will only make it drier”.
Unnecessary cultivation would have increased moisture loss, used additional fuel and wearing metal, and risked burying weed seeds and volunteers. Instead, all the stubble was covered with a Claydon Straw Harrow within a week of combining.
Working diagonally to the direction of combining, the straw harrow redistributed chopped straw and created a fine tilth in the top 2-3 cm. This layer helped protect the soil surface from the sun, reduce evaporation and create the right conditions for weeds, volunteers and cover crops to germinate when rain eventually arrived.
Ready for the Rain
Half the planned cover crop area was established in one pass using the farm’s 6m Evolution drill. The leading tines were set shallower than usual to avoid brining large clods to the surface.
As part of a farm trial, seed was broadcast over the remaining area using a pneumatic spreader. Both areas were then straw harrowed to cover the seed and distribute straw evenly before being consolidated with Claydon Cambridge rolls.
The seed remained in the dry soil until measurable rain arrived during the final week of August. Germination then began quickly, producing cover crops that will provide a clean entry for the following crops.
Approximately two-thirds of the farm will be planted with winter wheat for harvest 2027, with the remainder going into spring oats. However, drilling will only begin when conditions are correct.
“The hardest thing now is to be patient and leave the dry soil”, says Jeff.
Because the soil suffered no damage from harvest traffic,. there is no need to force it into a seedbed. Avoiding unnecessary passes will help preserve moisture, protect soil structure and reduce costs.
Efficiency Before Expansion
The dry conditions meant the farm’s high output machinery could theoretically have covered considerably more land. In a wet autumn, however, taking on that additional area could expose the business to unacceptable risk.
“Bigger doesn’t always mean better” Jeff says.
Expansion can bring higher rents and greater exposure to interest rates, input costs, depreciation, labour pressure and adverse weather. For many farming businesses, improving the efficiency of existing operations may offer a more secure route forward.
Every field operation should therefore be assessed carefully. What does it cost, what benefit does it deliver and could it safely be avoided?
Crop establishment is one of the clearest areas in which savings can be made. Reducing the number of passes lowers fuel, labour and machinery costs while minimising soil disturbance and conserving moisture.
As Jeff concludes “Ultimately, the best way forward could be to operate more efficiently, at lower cost and reduced risk”.
Farmers cannot control the weather or commodity markets, but they can control how they manage their soils and how much it costs to establish