Certainly, judging by the many farmers we have spoken to across the county, it has been more of a harvest nightmare in places, with the relentless rain leaving many crops ruined – and not just cereals but grass crops too, so vital for our large livestock sector.

In reporting the harvest, however, it is still difficult to reach a definitive conclusion about the state of things. We have numerous examples of farms only a few miles apart having a completely different harvest experience.

As a result, comments about "lucky escapes" are for some a pretty accurate description. But for those still desperate to salvage something from this year's harvest – and at a time when home-grown food has never been in greater demand – this is cold comfort.

Farmers pride themselves on being able to cope with whatever the weather can throw at them, but with this dismal summer coming hard on the heels of last summer's floods, some will find it hard to contemplate yet another soggy mess next year.

Whether you live in the city or the countryside, there's something we all want to round off the summer and that's a bit of sunshine!

From: Bob Baker, rural development officer, Thirsk Rural Business Centre, Blakey Lane, Thirsk.

THE tale of harvest portrayed by Mark Casci is somewhat different to the picture of harvest here in North Yorkshire.

I know of at least three farmers who use contractors to do their harvest who have yet to harvest a grain. Their contractors have, like the farmers mentioned in your report, being working around the clock when the weather allowed. But the weather has not allowed as much progress as Mark seems to have witnessed in the south of Yorkshire.

It is not just the arable farmers who are suffering. I visited Muker Show in Swaledale last week and saw numerous fields of grass still to be harvested as either silage or hay.

The land is completely waterlogged and will take days of wind and sun before machinery can travel.

From: Stuart Crowe, Hill View Farm, Northallerton.

WHILE it is true that farmers and their staff have put in long hours during the recent dry spell, and that increased drying costs will be incurred, your article paints a very rosy picture which is a long way from reality.

Unfortunately, your correspondent quotes farmers in the Brough, Goole and Doncaster region. As every one in agriculture knows, this area has very free draining soil and as a result is always early with harvest .

If Mr Casci had travelled further afield to the Lincolnshire and Yorkshire wolds, Holderness and North Yorkshire, he would have seen a very different picture – field after field of wheat, barley and spring rape still to be harvested.

Opinion is that there could still be as much as 40 per cent of the crop still to be harvested. This figure rises as you go further north into the Borders and Scotland.

The reality is that every additional wet day is resulting in crop deterioration, mycotoxins are spreading, grains are starting to sprout which then renders the grain valueless and with all the rain we have had this week even when we do get some dry weather there will be many fields which the harvesting machinery will not be able to travel on. It is possible that what was expected to be a 16m-plus tonnes wheat crop in the worst case scenario could be less than 14m tonnes with disastrous financial consequences for the farmers affected.

From: Christine Kilby, The Village, Thorp Arch, Wetherby.

MY family farm decent land in both West and North Yorkshire and still have a sizeable acreage of grain to cut. We are not alone. There are many farmers with far more acres to cut than us. We do not know of any farmer around who has completed his grain harvest.

What has been harvested has for the most part had to be dried. The drying process is both laborious and hugely expensive on account of fuel costs.

Celebrating a harvest "miracle", I think not.



EDITOR'S NOTE: The article in question was gathered from a number of sources, including the NFU harvest report of August 27 which said "some much better progress" has been made in this region, and its September 2 update which reported that the harvest was "finished or nearly finished" in parts of Yorkshire.

The article said in the introduction that "many" Yorkshire farmers had undertaken their harvest. It did not state that all had done so.


The real horror of US Presidential poll race


From: Brian Sheridan, Redmires Road, Sheffield.

IF I wanted to excoriate the BBC for misuse of licence payers' money, nothing would be further from my mind than than its coverage of the American elections ("BBC should switch off from American nightmare", Yorkshire Post, September 3).

Your correspondent Malcolm Naylor appears to be confusing the BBC with the Government. The Corporation has no vested interest in using overseas events to bury bad news at home. It does, however, have a duty to give prominence to political events in the world's greatest superpower.

Moreover, if we discount the race – if that is not too strong a word as it was won by a frail 72-year-old – for the Republican nomination, the present ground-breaking contest has been captivating, with sexism, racism, ageism and now the usual muck-raking. The Democrats have gone for broke and they fear that if they don't win this time they never will.

The American nightmare is not in the excellent coverage by the BBC and Channel 4. The real horror is that the appalling Sarah Palin could be an aged heartbeat from perpetuating the benighted conservatism which has beset the White House. If Mr Naylor is not already too switched off by the Presidential elections, he should know that he and Democrat candidate Obama are on the same side.

From: Eric Bamford, Kenwood Road, Sheffield.

WHAT a breath of fresh air from Malcolm Naylor. British subservience to extreme capitalism, as practiced by America under the false title of "democracy", has robbed us of our independence.