As harvest approaches it seems obvious to have the combine serviced and the grain store cleaned out, but there are other details that could help you have a smoother run through harvest and commence the new crop year.

Alex Wilcox, Hutchinsons Agronomist, who also farms sugar beet and combinable crops in west Norfolk, has his “Top Ten” tips that may help you this summer.

1. Closely track and monitor red diesel prices during the spring to summer period. So you can fill all the fuel tanks for harvest when most economic, NOT when you have to, the week before harvest begins.

2. Make sure the air conditioning systems in tractors and combines are gassed up and fully operational. Overheated operators are ones which will make silly and potentially dangerous/expensive mistakes.

3. Check all grain trailer tyres/lights and brakes thoroughly and WELL before required at harvest time. Accidents are time consuming, dangerous and costly, plus replacement parts are especially thin on the ground during peak work times.

4. Organise cropping early and ensure that early sown autumn crops e.g. WOSR and early sown Winter Wheat have seed ordered with the ideal seed dressing and a suitable delivery date confirmed. Once harvest gets underway, all other aspects of the farm enterprise become superseded - delays in autumn establishment times can lead to a knock on effect in terms of autumn crop viability and profitability.

5. Ensure all staff and operators know the harvest system employed and also are aware of what is expected safety-wise on the specific farm sites and out in the field. Where potential pitfalls are known and discussed they are much more likely to be avoided, even when long working hours and fatigue becomes a factor. Get any new operators to the farm to practice before harvest commences.

6. Pre-plan a combine route map through the various crops, ideally starting this when organising the cropping rotation for each season. This can also be discussed and finalised with the team immediately pre-harvest. The amount of harvesting time lost whilst on the road can be the difference between completion of harvest and timely autumn crop establishment, or delayed completion and poor subsequent autumn crops.

7. Check all crop contracts thoroughly for all quality aspects required. Allows for the prioritising of harvest of same species crops, thus minimising potential quality losses and also reduces potential quality damage when the harvested crop reaches the grain store or drying system.

8. All moisture meters should be checked with new batteries fitted and calibration certification provided. Cutting at the correct grain moisture and early post-harvest in-store monitoring are crucial to maintain harvested crops at their optimum quality and at minimal cost.

9. Ask your grain trader to provide reference samples for you to cover all the grown crops you will harvest this season. A properly calibrated moisture meter is a must, but so is being able to cross check it throughout the harvest season against known crop moistures. This is essential as these meters can gradually lose accuracy over time and frequent use, so ask for small bag crop samples of your current crops.

10. Ensure you have a notepad and pen or smartphone / tablet in the combine cab to enable the combine operator to note areas of poor weed suppression and poor crop performance – the farm can utilise this information for maximising input efficiency in the subsequent crop.